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UPWARD   STEPS 


OF 


SEVENTY    YEARS. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHIC,  BIOGRAPHIC,  HISTORIC. 


GROWTH   OF   REFORMS— ANTI-SLAVERY,    ETC.— THE  WORLD'S    HELPEKS 

AND  LIGHT-BRINGERS — SPIRITUALISM — PSYCHIC  RESEARCH — 

RELIGIOUS   OUTLOOK — COMING   REFORMS. 


BY 

GILES  B.  STEBBINS. 

Editor  atid  Compiler  of"  Chapters  from  the  Bible  of  the  Ages,^'  atid 

"  Poems  of  the  Life  Beyond''''  ;  Author  of"  After  Dogmatic 

Tlteology,  IVJtatV^  "American  Protectionist's 

ManuaJ,'"  "  Progress  from  Poverty.'* 


"  Take  heart !— the  Vaster  builds  again — 
A  charmed  life  old  goodness  hath. 
The  tares  may  perish,  but  the  grain 
Is  not  for  deatli."  —  IVhittier. 

"  The  world  has  caught  a  quickening  breath 
From  Heaven's  eternal  shore. 
And  souis  triumphant  over  death 

Return  to  earth  once  more." — Lizzie  Doten. 


NEW  YORK 
UNITED  STATES  BOOK  COMPANY 


SUCCESSORS  TO 


JOHN   W.    LOVELL    COMPANY 

150  WORTH  ST.,  COR.  MISSION  PLACE 


COPYRIGHT,    1890 
BY 

GILES  B.  STEBBINS 


'    >    0       1    5  >    :>     >   ,  > 

5  ■>         5      1  J      ^     5  J 


CT 

DEDICATORY  INTRODUCTION. 

It  was  my  fortune  to  be  born  in  Massachusetts  in  1817, 
in  the  days  between  the  old  and  the  new  time, — before 
the  coming  of  the  great  reforms  that  have  heahhfully 
shaken  the  nation  in  the  past  fifty  years;  before  the  age 
of  modern  science  and  varied  industry,  and  of  larger 
freedom  of  religious  thought  and  spiritual  experience. 
In  my  New  England  childhood  Puritanism  largely  gave 
its  cast  and  aspect  to  life,  for  good  and  ill;  now  we 
breathe  a  new  atmosphere. 

For  a  realistic  picture  of  that  old  time,  some  autobio- 
graphic sketch  of  childhood  and  youth  seemed  best. 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  growth  of  reforms,  and  how 
one  led  to  another,  a  look  at  the  grand  anti-slavery  move- 
ment,   in    which    I   was    privileged   to   take  part,    at  its 

^^      mighty  "winnowing  of  the  nation,"  and  at  the  upward 
'cs^      steps  which  have  followed  it,  with  biographic  sketches  of 

^^     noble  and  true-hearted  men  and  women  whom  I  have 

_  ^      known,    seemed   fit   and   useful.      A  look   at   the   ereat 
religious  changes  and  spiritual  experiences  of  our  time, 

^     and   an    outlook   forward   to   coming   light  and  needed 

V  reforms   must  surely  help  to  inspire  us  to  emulate  the 
courage  of  those  who  have  done  well  in  the  past,  and  to 
.       take  up  our  needed  tasks  with  a  faith  even  stronger  than 
^.    theirs. 

>P^  Thus  is  the  aim  and  scope  of  this  work  briefly  given. 
'^  "  Some  fragmentary  sketches  of  like  aim,  used  here,  and 
changed  and  added  to,  met  with  such  favor  years  ago 
from  good  friends  that  I  hope  they,  and  possibly  others, 
may  take  a  cordial  interest  in  this  book.  To  those 
friends,  near  and  far,  it  is  gratefully  dedicated. 

G.  B.  a 

* 

Detroit,   Mich. , 

Oct.  ist,  1890. 

402355 


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0     « 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGB 

Dedicatory  introduction 3 

I,— Ancestry  —  Childhood  —  Youth. —  Birthplace  —  Spring- 
field, Mass.— Hatfield— Home  Life— Oliver  Smith — Sophia 
Smith— Self- Help 9 

II.— Old  Time  Good  and  III. — Religious  growth — Reforms — 

Temperance 39 

III.— Transcendentalism. —  Brook  Farm  —  Hopedale  —- North- 
ampton—Samuel L.  Hill— W.  E.  Channing— Pierpont— 
Theodore  Parker 5^ 

IV.  —Anti-Slavery. — Garrison — "  The  Fleas  of  Conventions  " — 
Personal  Incidents— H.  C.  Wright— C.  L.  Remond — 
George  Thompson— Gerritt  Smith— Abby  Kelley  Foster — 
Abigail   and    Lydia  Mott— Abigail    P.   Ela— Josephine   S. 

Griffing 72 

V.-— The  Friends — Quakerism. — Griffith  M.  Cooper— John  and 
Hannah  Cox— A  Golden  Wedding — Experiences  of  Pris- 
cilla  Cadwallader  —  Lucretia  Mott  —  Isaac  T.  Hopper — 
Thomas  Garrett — Richard  Glazier — Progressive  Friends' 
Meetings 119 

VT. — The  World's  Helpers  and  Light  Bringers. — John  D. 
Zimmerman — W.  S.  Prentiss — Wm.  Denton — E.  B.  Ward 
— Emily  Ward — Benjamin  F.  Wade — H.  C.  Carey — Home 
Industry— Education,  Scientific,  Industrial,  and  Moral — 
"Religion  of  the  Body" — Jugoi  Arinori  Mori — Peary 
Chand  Mittra — President  Grant  and  Sojourner  Truth- 
John  Brown — Helpful  Influences — Great  Awakenings  ....   151 

VII.— Spiritualism— Natural  Religion. — Experiences  and  In- 
vestigations —  Slate  Writing — Spirits  described  —  Piano 
music  without  hands — A  fact  beyond  mind  reading — Lifted 
in  the  air — Spirit  portraits — A  Michigan  pioneer's  ex- 
perience— Looking  Beyond— Future  Life — Natural  Me- 
diumship — Illumination — Blind  Inductive  Science 221 


ji  CONTENTS. 

CHAP.  PAGE 

VIII. — Psychic    Science. — The    Spiritual  Body  —  Painless    Sur- 
gery —  Psychometry  —  Inspired     Experiences  —  George 
Eliot— Helen  Hunt  Jackson— Prof.    Stowe — Mrs.    H.    B. 
Stowe — Savonarola — Rev.  H.  W.  Bellows — Dinah  Mulock 
Craik — A  Simple  Michigan  Maiden — Lizzie  Doten — Read- 
ing German  Philosophy — Record  of  an  Hour's  Experience.  264 

IX.— Religious  Outlook— Coming  Reforms.— A  New  Protes- 
tantism— Woman  in  the  Pulpit — Rev.  Horace  Bushnell's 
"Deeper  Matters" — Radicalism  —  Ethical  Culture  — 
Liberal  Christianity — A  Needed  Leaven — Two  Paths — 
Futui-e  Religion— Coming  Ket'orms— Conclusion. .......  285 


Upward  Steps  of  Seventy  Years. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ANCESTRY — CHILDHOOD — YOUTH. 

«» The  home  of  my  childhood  ;  the  haunts  of  my  prime  ; 
All  the  passions  and  scenes  of  that  rapturous  time, 
When  the  feelings  were  young  and  the  world  was  new, 
Like  the  fresh  bowers  of  Eden  unfolding  to  view." 

Thomas  Pringle. 

Ancestry  is  like  the  roots  of  a  tree.  Something-  of  the 
fibre  and  grain  of  the  root  crops  out  in  branch  and  twig-, 
in  flower  and  fruitage.  My  maternal  grandfather's  farm- 
house still  stands  in  the  old  town  of  Hatfield,  Massachu- 
setts, on  the  western  verge  of  the  fertile  meadows  on  the 
Connecticut  river.  Its  great  central  chimney  (fifteen  feet 
square  at  the  base),  its  small  windows,  low-ceiled  rooms, 
solid  frame  and  steep  roof,  were  unchanged  a  few  years 
ago,  but  clad  in  new  vesture  of  clapboards  and  shingles. 
Just  inside  the  yard,  in  front,  stood  an  elm — its  trunk 
five  feet  through,  and  its  branches  reaching  over  the  roof 
of  the  house.  A  century  ago,  grandfather  brought  it  from 
the  meadow  on  his  shoulder,  set  it  in  the  ground,  and 
lived  to  take  his  noon-day  nap  on  the  grass  beneath  its 
shade,  when  almost  ninety  years  old.  Fifty  years  ago 
the  well  behind  the  house  was  dug  out  anew.  It  stocd 
just  outside  the  barnyard  fence,  with  the  log  \vatering- 


lO  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

trough  inside,  and  a  spout  between.  I  can  see  the  cattle 
standing  around  that  trough,  sucking  up  the  water  as  the 
bucket  was  emptied  into  it,  waiting  for  the  swift  up  and 
down  swing  of  the  old  well-sweep  to  bring  thenn  a  fresh 
supply,  and  clattering  their  horns  and  poking  their  heads 
over  the  fence  if  the  "hired  man  "  failed  to  ply  his  task  at 
the  well-pole  vigorously.  When  the  diggers  had  reached 
down  twenty  feet,  they  came  to  the  roots  of  the  great 
tree,  filling  the  earth  with  a  network  of  tough  fibres,  which 
reached  under  the  deep  house-cellar,  and  met  in  the 
massive  trunk  of  that  tree  sixty  feet  away.  I  won- 
dered with  the  rest,  to  see  huw  far  and  how  deep  they 
reached. 

So  our  ancestral  roots  go  back  to  "ye  olden  time  "  of 
simple  and  God-fearing  New  England,  and  even  under 
the  ocean  to  sturdy  Saxons  and  hardy  Normans  in  Eng- 
land. On  my  mother's  side  I  can  only  go  back  to  her 
father,  Ebenezer  Fitch.  His  cousin,  John  Fitch,  built 
the  first  steamboat,  ran  it  on  the  Delaware  in  1788  and 
1790,  had  no  means  to  repair  its  broken  machinery,  and 
went  to  the  wild  west  to  die  on  the  Ohio  river.  He  sent 
a  sealed  packet  to  the  Franklin  library  in  Philadelphia,  to 
be  opened  in  thirty  years,  in  which  he  said  :  "I  die  un- 
known and  poor,  but  when  this  package  is  opened  the 
whistle  of  the  steamboat  will  be  heard  on  every  navigable 
stream  in  this  country" — a  prophecy  born  of  faith,  and 
fully  verified  ;  for  the  genius  of  Fulton,  helped  by  the 
money  of  the  Livingstones,  took  up  his  work  and  carried 
it  on.  My  grandfather  had  some  of  this  inventive  genius. 
I  have  often  heard  him  tell  the  story  of  his  millstone  in 
the  linseed  oil  mill,  falling  into  the  pit,  and  how  he  alone, 
three  miles  from  any  help,  lifted  the  great  stone,  weigh- 
ing over  a  ton,  twelve  feet  upward  to  its  place.  I  re- 
member him  as  a  white-haired  old  man,  toward  the  close 
of  a  life  of  careful  thrift,  patient  industry,  and  remarkable 
temperance  in  all  things.     '•  Leave  off  eating  just  a   little 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  n 

hungry,"  .was  his  word  and  practice.  His  wife,  my  grand- 
mother, was  a  daughter  of  Deacon  Taylor,  of  Suttield,  Ct, 
— a  busy  man,  with  a  farm,  a  blacksmith's  shop,  and  many 
affairs  of  church  and  towia  in  his  trusty  hands.  He  had 
the  old  New  England  habit  of  vigilant  care  and  early 
work.  Mother  used  to  tell  of  making  long  visits  at  their 
house,  and  how  the  Deacon  was  up  before  the  dawn  in 
cold  winter  mornings,  built  the  fire  in  the  great  kitchen 
fire-place,  put  on  the  tea-kettle,  swept  up  the  hearth, 
and  then  would  open  the  chamber  door  which  led  up  to 
a  hall  with  sleeping  rooms  on  either  side,  and  call  out 
in  quick  and  clear  tones  :  "  Boys  !  Gals  ! ''  and  no  boy  or 
"gal"  waited  for  a  second  summons. 

A  quaint  story,  and  true  withal,  is  told  of  an  old-time 
courtship  at  his  house.  My  grandfather,  in  the  old  revo- 
lutionary war,  paid  a  substitute  to  do  his  fighting  against 
the  'red-coat  Britishers,"  and  followed  the  useful  voca- 
tion of  teaming  up  and  down  the  Connecticut  from 
Hartford  to  his  home.  Among  his  many  errands,  he  had 
one  to  Deacon  Taylor,  and  left  his  team  imder  the  tavern 
shed  one  raw  November  day,  and  found  his  way  to  the 
house.  He  went  to  the  kitchen  door  (in  those  days  front 
doors  were  reserved  for  state  occasions),  and  a  blooming 
maiden  opened  it,  and  asked  him  in.  The  old  folks  were 
away,  and  she  was  at  the  big  spinning-wheel,  erect, 
radiant,  and  busy  with  her  graceful  and  useful  task.  Of 
course  she  stopped  to  hear  his  message,  and  saw  that  he 
looked  cold  and  a  little  worn.  "  On  hospitable  thoughts 
intent."  she  asked  him  to  wait  and  take  a  lunch  ;  set  up 
the  little  square  stand  by  his  side,  put  on  a  plate,  knife 
and  fork,  rye  bread,  a  dish  of  "  scraps,"  fresh  and  crispy, 
just  from  the  trying  of  the  lard,  with  a  pumpkin  pie,  and  a 
mug  of  cider  to  help  out.  He  ate  and  they  talked  ;  he 
felt  refreshed  in  body  and  soul.  Other  errands  followed, 
and  in  due  time  a  wedding.  Sons  and  daughters  blessed 
the  golden  hour  that  led  the  father  to  that   kitchen,  and 


12 


UPWARD  STEPS  OP  SErEXTV  YEARS. 


prompted  the  maiden,  their  dear  mother,  to  set  her  best 

pumpkin  pie  and  scraps — before  him.      I  never  saw  her, 

but  heard  much  of  her  tender  kindness  and  thrifty  ways, 
and  always  thought  my  mother  must  be  like  her. 

Grandfathernever  felt  quite  sure  of  his  "calling  and 
election,"  and  so  never  joined  the  church,  but  was  a  con- 
stant attendant,  and  kept  up  family  prayers  to  the  last. 
Often  did  I,  when  a  child,  kneel  by  my  chair  on  that 
kitchen  floor,  and  listen  to  his  familiar  petitions — always 
the  same  words  earnestly  repeated.  It  was  no  idle  cere- 
mony, but  his  best  way  to  look  up  for  light  and  strength. 
Whoever  has  a  better  way,  let  him  take  it,  and  waste  no 
time  in  slighting  contempt  of  "the  soul's  sincere  desire," 
even  if  expressed  in  strange  and  daily-repeated    phrases. 

]\Iy  paternal  grandparents  I  never  saw,  butthe  Stebbins 
family — or  Stebbing  by  English  spelling — goes  dimly 
back  to  one  Nicholas  de  Stubbynge,  in  1235,  with  some 
armorial  crest  of  lion  heads  and  the  like,  in  Essex,  and  is 
clearly  traced  eight  generations  to  one  Rowland  Stebbins, 
from  England,  the  ancestor  of  all  the  race  here.  For  over 
two  centuries  they  were  mostly  farmers  in  decent  con- 
dition. In  1774-80  the  Wilbraham  town  records  (in  Mas- 
sachusetts, father's  birthplace)  show  a  score  of  them  as 
stout  soldiers  in  the  war,  as  refusing  to  use  British  goods, 
and  as  paying  their  share  of  war  costs,  heavy  for  those 
days.  The  plain  names — Noah,  IMoses,  Calvin,  Enos, 
Aaron,  Zadock  and  Eldad — tell  their  English  lineage  and 
their  middling  station  in  life.  A  sturdy,  upright  and 
downright  company  they  were,  little  given  to  official 
honors  or  to  large  wealth,  branching  out  sometimes  from 
farm  to  pulpit,  but  everywhere  inclined  to  do  their  own 
thinking.  The  women  were  strong,  sensible,  and  earnest, 
with  a  tinge  of  finer  grace  in  the  later  generations  as  I 
knew  them,  a  rare  sweetness  tempering  their  strength. 
The  English  blood  kept  clear  of  any  foreign  mixture  in  a 
remarkable  way  ;      healthy  in  body  and  soul,  genuine  in 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVEXTY  YEARS.  13 

life  and  character.  There  were  no  mean  members,  few 
dull  ones,  some  of  marked  power  and  insight  ;  on  the 
whole,  it  was  good  blood  because  genuine  and  honest. 

BIRTHPLACE SPRINGFIELD,    MASS. 

Opposite  the  north-west  corner  of  Armory  Square  in 
Springfield,  stood,  sixty  years  ago,  a  long,  one-story 
house,  formerly  a  soldiers  barrack,  but  neatly  fitted  up 
as  a  cottage  for  my  father,  who  was  paymaster's  clerk  in 
the  government  armory  or  gun  factory.  In  the  centre  of 
that  grassy  square  of  twenty  acres,  a  tall  flag-staff  rose 
above  the  trees,  and  from  its  top,  on  all  gala  days,  floated 
the  stars  and  stripes.  Facing  the  square  on  its  eastern 
side,  and  filling  a  part  of  its  southern  space,  were  the 
long  shops  in  which  hundreds  of  men  worked  at  making 
muskets.  The  level  plain  dotted  with  houses,  stretched 
back  to  low  hills  eastward  with  the  Wilbraham  mount- 
ains, but  a  few  miles  distant.  Northward  fifteen  miles 
the  Holyoke  mountain  range  lifted  up  its  billowy  sum- 
mits against  the  sky.  Just  in  the  rear  of  the  house  the 
ground  sloped  down  a  hundred  feet  to  the  level  of  the 
broad  meadows  on  which  the  town  was  mostly  built, 
and  its  homes,  half  hid  by  great  elms,  the  blue  Connec- 
ticut winding  through  twenty  miles  of  lovely  valley,  and 
the  towering  hills  west,  were  all  in  sight, — one  of  the 
loveliest  landscapes  in  the  world,  with  its  soft  beauty 
lifted  into  grandeur  as  the  eye  rested  on  the  mountains 
along  its  border. 

Around  that  home  was  the  beauty  of  nature,  and 
within  it  the  diviner  beauty  of  human  life,  well  ordered 
in  its  daily  doings.  Very  seldom  did  I  hear  a  fretful  or 
impatient  word  from  father  or  mother — fortunate  tempera- 
ment, and  the  repression  and  self-control  in  the  very 
atmosphere  of  Puritanism  wrought  this  fine  result,  which 
lasted  through  years  of  invalid  life  of  my  father,  and 
the  watching  night  and  day  of  my  mother,    and  kept  their 


14  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

last  years  serene  and  cheerful.  An  older  and  only  sister 
never  fretted  at  me  or  them,  but  held  to  her  sweet  saint- 
liness  and  useful  cares  as  maiden,  wife,  and  mother. 

I  look  up  to  these  lives  ;  without  them  I  could  not  see 
through  the  mists  to  their  golden  heights.  The  memory 
of  such  a  home  is  a  saving  grace. 

Near  us  was  the  Arsenal,  filled  with  thousands  of 
muskets  stacked  upright  in  burnished  order.  When  I  read 
Longfellow's  poem — 

"This  is  the  Arsenal,  from  floor  to  ceiling, 
Like  a  huge  organ,  rise  tne  burnished  arms, 
But  from  their  silent  throats  no  anthems  pealing, 
Startle  the  villagers  with  rude  alarms — " 

I  could  see  it  all,  as  if  it  were  but  yesterday  that  I  played 
as  a  child  among  these  long  corridors  of  silent  weapons. 
This  youth  of  the  spirit  tells  of  immortality, — it  pertains 
to  our  innermost,  where  there  is  no  death  or  decay. 

In  rainy  days  the  long,  low  garret  was  a  chosen  resort. 
There  were  piles  of  the  Springfield  Republican — of  which 
my  father  was  one  of  the  early  friends  and  founders — in 
which  were  charming  stories  by  Rev.  W.  B.  O.  Peabody. 
the  Unitarian  clergyman  of  the  town.  What  hours  were 
those  !  Lost  to  all  care  or  thought  of  other  things  and 
living  in  the  scenes  of  his  creation.  When  I  heard  that 
minister  read  the  hymns  and  preach  on  Sundays,  his 
tender  monotone  and  the  spiritual  beauty  of  his  presence, 
set  him  apart  from  earth,  and  to  me  he  seemed  a  celestial 
visitant. 

Homer's  Iliad  divided  my  garret  hours  with  his  stories, 
and  I  used  to  feel  the  wild  struggle  of  the  battle,  see  the 
c'escending  gods,  and  hear  the  words  of  heroes  and  the 
pleas  of  women,  until  New  England  was  in  some  dim 
distance,  and  old  Greece  was  new  and  near.  Years  after 
in  Hatfield,  just  at  an  age  when  a  boy  devours  the  books 
he  happens  to  find,  I  had  access  to  the  town  library  of 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  15 

some  five  hundred  well-selected  volumes,  and  so,  fortu- 
nately, read  history  and  Scott's  novels,  and  was  saved 
from  literary  trash.  In  those  days  we  had  fewer  books, 
and  less  unwholesome  cramming  and  mental  dyspepsia. 
Many  books  bring  many  dangers  to  those  who  have  no 
wit  or  wisdom  to  keep  clear  of  mental  bogs,  quicksands 
and  moral  whirlpools.  For  fair  days  there  was  "the 
dingle,"  a  deep  ravine  with  steep  banks  just  north  of  the 
house,  where  I  shared  the  sport  of  pushing,  tumbling  and 
rolling  in  the  soft  sand  with  other  boys,  until  the  master's 
ferule  rapping  on  the  window  called  us  all  to  the  school- 
house  near  at  hand. 

Nothing  is  absolutely  forgotten  ;  every  event  comes  up, 
again  if  but  rightly  evoked.  The  very  bricks  in  our 
houses  can,  perhaps,  whisper  of  what  has  passed  within 
their  walls  before  our  day,  were  our  poor  ears  fine  enough 
to  hear  the  story.  Some  things  stand  out  in  wonderful 
clearness  the  moment  the  mind  turns  to  them.  When  I  was 
about  six  years  old  the  West  Point  cadets  pitched  their 
tents  on  the  green  before  our  house,  camped  for  a  week, 
went  through  their  drills  and  marched  to  the  sound  of 
their  famous  band's  music.  I  had  seen  soldiers  and  heard 
bands  before,  but  these  I  see  now,  and  hear  the  strains  of 
their  music  stir  and  swell  in  the  air. 

A  young  woman,  a  friend  of  my  sister,  went  to  Phila- 
delphia as  teacher  in  a  ladies'  private  school,  and  came 
home  on  a  visit  about  the  time  of  this  cadet  encampment. 
She  took  me  to  church  with  her  and  seated  me  by  her 
side.  The  gracious  kindness  and  sweet  refinement  of  her 
manners,  a  certain  delicate  and  noble  purity  in  her  very 
presence,  seemed  but  the  signs  and  proofs  of  an  interior 
perfectness.  The  simple  elegance  of  her  dress,  its  soft 
gray  hue  tinged  with  blue,  seemed  the  fit  expression  of 
those  qualities.  I  sat  in  quiet  content — a  fine  aura, 
luminous  to  my  spirit,  but  invisible  otherwise,  radiating 
from   the  inner  being  of  that  true  woman.     Such  is  the 


1 6  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

influence  of  personal  presence.  Children  especially  live 
"not  by  bread  alone."  Let  all  thoughtless  people,  who 
would  put  the  little  ones  among  ignorant  and  uncouth 
nurses  to  save  themselves  trouble,  think  of  this. 

That  Unitarian  Church,  with  its  chaste  beauty  of  archi- 
tecture, its  air  of  quiet  refinement,  the  exalted  spirit  and 
tenderness  of  its  minister,  the  peculiar  mellowness  of  the 
tone  of  its  Sabbath  bell,  is  a  living  memory.  A  few  years 
ago  I  went  to  its  site,  and  only  fragments  of  the  red  stone 
steps  of  its  porch  were  left.  Up  the  street  stood  a  costly 
modern  temple,  less  beautiful  to  my  eyes  than  the  old 
meeting-house.  Our  "  slip  "  or  common  narrow  pew,  in 
that  church  was  opposite  the  stately  square  pew  of 
Jonathan  Dwight,  father  to  Mrs.  George  Bancroft.  The 
scholar  and  future  historian  used  to  come  there  with  the 
family,  and  it  was  a  quiet  amusement  to  me  to  watch 
him  standing  before  the  window  in  prayer  time,  and 
catching  flies  on  its  panes  in  his  total  absence  of  mind. 

In  occasional  visits  to  my  cousins  in  Wilbraham,  I 
would  go  across  the  road  on  Sundays  to  the  Methodist 
meetings  in  theoldschoolhouse.  The  shouts,  groans  and 
uncouth  ways  of  preachers  and  hearers  made  all  seem 
unlike  a  Sabbath  service  ;  but  one  day  Rev.  Wilbur  Fisk 
— then  Principal  of  the  North  Wilbraham  Academy,  a 
Methodist  Bishop  since — came  to  preach,  and  his  quiet 
manner  made  me  feel  that  I  was  again  "  going  to  meet- 
ing." The  strong  and  lively  companionship  of  those 
cousins,  like  brothers  as  they  were,  was  good  for  mc. 
After  our  active  sports  over  the  farm,  and  along  the  swift 
Scantic,  foaming  and  rushing  out  of  the  mountain  gorge.  I 
used  to  be  filled  with  stran<re  feelines  at  nijrht  in  listening 
to  the  moan  of  the  wind  in  the  pine  forest  on  the  mount- 
ain-side, always  prophetic  of  a  coming  storm.  That 
minor  key  in  Nature's  harmony,  that  wailing  and  fore- 
boding sound,  brought  apprehension  to  my  soiil. 

One  of  my  earliest  inward  questionings  came  up  as  I 


UrWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  17 

used  to  look  into  the  still  water  in  brooks,  where  no  bot- 
tom could  be  seen,  or  up  into  the  unfathomable  blue  over 
all.  An  awe,  which  subdued  but  did  not  oppress,  would 
come  over  me.  With  a  stick  I  could  touch  the  bed  of  the 
pool,  but  that  wondrous  sky,  I  felt  that  none  could  measure. 
What  was  this,  which  I  could  think  of,  yet  could  not 
compass  ?  I  felt  that  beyond  sky  and  cloud  stretched  an 
expanse  without  end. 

My  first  knowledge  of  death  brought  a  dread,  but  then 
came  the  thought  that  somehow,  when  I  died,  I  should 
go  out  into  that  illimitable  region  beyond  the  clouds.  This 
came  from  no  teaching  that  I  can  remember,  but  from 
some  inward  sense — a  child's  intuition  of  immortality, 

HATFIELD. 

"'  Sing  on  !  bring  down,  O  lowland  river, 
The  joy  of  the  hills  to  the  waiting  sea  ; 
The  wealth  of  the  vales,  the  pomp  of  the  mountains, 
The  breath  of  the  woodlands  bear  with  thee." 

My  father's  delicate  health  compelled  him  to  resign  his 
place,  kindly  kept  for  him  so  long  as  recovery  seemed 
possible,  and  we  all  moved  to  Hatfield,  a  quiet,  old  farm- 
ing town,  twenty-five  miles  up  the  Connecticut,  the  home 
of  my  grandfather  and  uncle  on  the  mother's  side.  The 
wing  of  a  vacant  farmhouse  was  rented,  and  life  in  the 
country  began,  yet  not  an  isolated  farm  life.  Along  wide, 
grass}--  streets  were  ranged  the  houses,  each  with  its  home 
lot  of  a  few  acres,  its  orchard,  garden  and  barns,  and  the 
farm  was  back  in  the  great  meadows  by  the  river,  some- 
times in  fragments — lots  a  mile  or  two  apart.  Great  elms 
stood  along  the  roadsides  and  in  the  yards,  their  branches 
reaching  over  the  road  and  the  house  roofs.  The  people 
were  all  within  a  mile  of  the  church  and  the  post-office, 
and  so  near  each  other  that  visits  could  be  made  by  easy 
walks.  All  this  helped  to  make  life  pleasant.  The  solid 
old  houses  were  built  to  stand,  with  huge,  central  chim- 

2 


1 8  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

neys,  steep  roofs,  small  windows,  low  rooms,  massive 
frames,  and  little  ornament  without  or  within, — an  occa- 
sional carved  doorway  with  all  sorts  of  queer  oak  leaves 
and  grapes  cut  on  the  posts  and  overhead,  telling  of  a 
touch  of  aristocracy  in  some  very  "forehanded"  family. 
There  was  one  parish  church,  one  "  creed  and  baptism  " 
for  two  centuries.  The  minister.  Rev.  Joseph  Lyman, 
D.  D.,  I  remember  well, — one  of  the  last  settled  for  life 
over  the  parish,  after  the  old  way,  and  who  had  preached 
Puritan  theology  to  his  flock  for  fifty  years  ;  white-haired, 
austere,  of  sound  judgment,  good  and  true  in  his  way  ; 
more  given  to  the  terrors  of  the  law  than  to  the  heavenly- 
graces,  with  autocratic  ideas  of  his  office,  a  righteous 
ruler  of  the  elect  as  God's  vicegerent  rather  than  a  loving 
and  brotherly  teacher.  Saturday  forenoons  he  used  to 
come  to  the  schoolhouse  "to  catechise  the  children,"  to 
hear   us  repeat  the    lessons  in  the  old  primers;    quaint 

rhymes,  telling  how, 

«'In  Adam's  fall. 
We  sinned  all," 

were  in  those  little  primers,  or  abridged  Westminster 
catechisms.  Rude  wood-cuts  on  the  border,  picturing 
Adam,  Eve,  the  serpent  and  apple  of  the  Hebrew  story ; 
like  illustrations  of  other  couplets  for  the  young,  and  knotty 
questions  on  fate  and  free-will,  which  nobody  understood, 
and  which  were  held  as  the  mysteries  of  godliness.  When 
that  grave  old  clergyman  entered  the  door,  the  hum  of  the 
schoolroom  gave  place  to  a  hushed  silence.  No  roguish 
glance  or  merry  flash  from  any  bright  eyes  of  boy  or  girl  ; 
no  whittling  or  snapping  of  "  spit  balls,"  or  faintest  whis- 
per ;  no  twisting  about  on  the  hard  benches,  but  all  sat 
upright  and  still,  intent  on  their  books,  or  stealing  awe- 
struck glances  at  the  minister.  When  he  left  the  cheery 
hum  sprang  up  with  new  life,  the  joy  of  childhood  and 
youth  flashed  out  again  like  sunshine  breaking  through  a 
cold,  gray  cloud. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


19 


Yet  he  would  have  perished  at  the  stake  by  slow  fire 
rather  than  have  taught  what  he  thought  false.  We  may 
well  honor  and  imitate  his  fidelity  to  conscience,  while  our 
thoughts  widen,  and  we  breathe  a  softer  air. 

By  the  roadside  stood  the  old  brown  schoolhouse, guilt- 
less of  paint  within  or  without ;  in  the  little  entry  at  one 
corner  hung  hats  and  bonnets  and  shawls,  and  the  water 
pail  with  its  tin  cup  stood  on  the  floor.  How  "dry"  we 
used  to  get,  how  glad  to  go  after  a  pail  of  water,  and  how 
often  we  asked  to  "get  a  drink  !  "  It  was  a  relief  from 
sitting  on  hard  benches,  cramped  behind  desks,  or  swing- 
ing the  feet,  as  the  smaller  ones  did,  with  the  floor  out  of 
reach.  That  entry  opened  into  a  low  room  thirty  feet 
square,  in  which  fifty  scholars  were  crowded,  with  one 
teacher  for  all,  from  alphabet  to  algebra ;  yet  with  brains 
and  will  a  great  deal  was  learned.  The  hardy  and  healthy 
lived  and  won  ;  the  slender  boys  and  delicate,  flower-like 
girls  yielded  to  the  rude  discomforts,  and  died,  with  none 
to  tell  why. 

When  we  were  out  at  play  and  a  stranger  passed  in  his 
wagon,  the  boys  would  join  hands  and  all  bow,  while  the 
girls  linked  together  and  dropped  a  courtesy, — all  rec- 
ognized by  the  traveler  with  a  smile  and  a  nod.  The 
audacity  of  young  America  in  our  days  might  be  toned 
down  by  some  of  these  old  customs.  No  tree  or  shrub 
stood  near  that  schoolhouse  ;  not  a  blind  or  curtain  to  any 
window.  The  fierce  winds  of  winter  burst  on  it  with  full 
force,  driving  chill  gusts  through  the  rattling  panes  ;  the 
burning  sun  of  summer  poured  its  fiery  rays  on  roof  and 
wall,  and  made  the  cramped  room  within  a  purgatory. 
The  compensations  were  outside  ;  but  a  few  steps  north, 
in  the  middle  of  the  street,  between  a  fork  of  two  roads, 
stood  two  magnificent  elms,  only  some  fifteen  feet  apart, 
their  trunks  five  feet  through,  their  widespread  and  inter- 
laced branches  sweeping  the  chimney  tops  of  two  houses 
on  opposite  sides  of  the  street,  a  hundred  feet  apart.     A 


20  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

fairy  world  of  foliag-e  and  bird-song,  far  up  where  no 
venturesome  boy  ever  climbed  ;  a  marvel  of  massive 
limbs  and  delicate  tracery  of  twig  and  leaf,  such  as  no 
artist  ever  chiseled  on  stone,  in  temple  or  cathedral  !  For 
a  hundred  years,  nature  had  wrought  to  perfect  this  master- 
piece, subtly  gathering  and  shaping  materials  from  earth, 
stream  and  air,  lifting  inorganic  clods  into  organized 
symmetry,  transfiguring  coarseness  into  beauty,  absorb- 
ing "  the  early  dew  and  the  later  rain,"  calling  down  the 
upper  air  to  help  shape  ethereal  lightness  in  leaf  and 
blossom, — all  this  a  free  gift  to  the  group  of  schoolchildren 
that  loved  to  stand  on  the  grass,  and  look  up,  open-eyed 
and  happy,  not  knowing  why  they  were  drawn  and  held 

there. 

'•  Beauty  into  my  senses  stole, 

I  yielded  myself  to  the  perfect  whole." 

is  what  each  one  felt,  but  could  not  say. 

Compared  to  what  was  done  elsewhere,  New  England 
was  in  advance  in  education.  Plainly  enough  we  can  see 
the  imperfectness  of  the  old  ways  ;  but  our  drill  and 
mechanical  routine,  our  external  memorizing  and  puppet- 
show  work,  hamper  personal  development.  Some  of  the 
best  thinking  and  studying  was  done  in  those  school- 
houses.  Those  were  poor  days  for  girls.  Near  us  lived 
a  man — a  pillar  in  the  church,  good  after  his  measure — 
who  said  :  "To  read  and  write  and  cypher  as  far  as  the 
rule  of  three,  is  enough  for  gals,"  and  the  deacon  only 
spoke  what  many  thought.  Woman  was  the  helpmeet, 
man  the  head  of  the  household,  the  ruler  over  wife  and 
family.  If  she  died  a  widow,  her  name  was  cut  on  a  grim 
gravestone  as  a  "  relict  " — a  sort  of  appendage.  Four 
miles  from  where  that  man  lived  who  summed  up  what 
"  gals  "  should  know,  stands  the  Smith  College  for  women 
in  Northampton,  endowed  with  a  half  million  dollars  by 
a  woman  of  his  own  town.  Certainly  we  have  reached 
better  ideas. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  2  I 

HOME    LIFE. 

Our  household  ways  were  simple ;  mother  and  sister 
did  their  own  work,  and  after  that  sister  left  home,  my 
mother  had  no  help.  All  was  neat,  and  in  order,  and 
due  season.  She  had  the  New  England  "faculty,"  and 
found  time  to  read  and  visit.  My  father  was  kind  but 
thorough,  and  trained  me  to  do  my  work  punctually  and 
well.  To  build  fires,  saw  wood,  tend  the  garden,  and  do 
errands,  was  my  work,  to  set  tables  for  my  mother 
also,  and  wipe  dishes,  bring  water  and  pound  the  clothes 
on  Mondays.  These  useful  household  tasks  I  enjoyed. 
A  sense  of  duty  and  obedience,  a  thirst  for  knowledge,  a 
love  of  order  and  decorum,  a  religious  devotedness  to  the 
best  ends,  a  feeling  that  success  comes  with  industry  and 
good  aims,  filled  the  atmosphere.  I  remember  coming 
home  from  school  one  keen  wintry  afternoon,  when 
father  asked:  "Have  you  brought  the  mail,  my  son .?  " 
I  answered  :  "No.  I  forgot  it."  He  quietly  said:  "I 
think  you  better  go  back  after  it."  I  knew  that  go  I  must, 
but  went  out  in  hot  temper,  which  the  biting  cold  soon 
cured.  Then  I  thought :  "It's  tough,  but  he  was  right," 
and  I  ran  swiftly  over  the  snowdrifts  and  brought  the 
mail  back  just  as  the  warm  supper  stood  on  the  table. 
No  more  was  said,  but  all  were  kind  and  cheery,  and 
I  enjoyed  the  good  things  with  a  boy's  keen  appetite. 
I  never  forgot  the  mail  again. 

Two  or  three  summers  I  worked  on  a  farm  for  a  few 
weeks,  for  a  friend  of  ours,  a  good  farmer,  who  gave  me 
a  boy's  task,  and  cared  for  me.  I  enjoyed  it,  learned  a 
good  deal  that  was  useful,  and  he  paid  me  just  enough  to 
make  a  lad  feel  a  little  pride  in  earning  something.  I 
can  see  now  that  it  was  my  father's  way  of  training  me  to 
industry.  One  autumn  I  husked  corn  for  the  owner  of 
tlie  farmhouse  we  lived  in.  The  unhusked  ears  were 
piled  up  in  the  old  corn-house  and  I  was  to  husk  and 
empty  into  the  cribs  for  one  cent  a  bushel.  I  enjoyed 
the  work  all  by  myself  in  those  cool  November  days.     I 


22  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

would  finish  my  twelve  bushels  before  noon,  get  my 
twelve  cents  from  the  prompt  paymaster,  and  do  chores 
and  play  and  read  the  rest  of  the  day.  Once  I  husked 
twenty  bushels  by  three  o'clock,  and  the  twenty  cents,  as 
token  of  such  a  stout  day's  work,  gave  great  satisfaction  ; 
in  all,  two  hundred  and  forty  bushels  were  husked,  and 
two  dollars  and  forty  cents  paid  me.  I  doubt  if  ever  boy 
or  man  enjoyed  work  more,  and  dollars  were  dollars, 
looking  large  in  those  times. 

Theodore  Parker  wrote  :  "I  owe  a  great  deal  to  the 
habit,  early  formed,  of  patient  and  persistent  work."  My 
good  parents  were  training  me  to  that  habit,  and  I  bless 
them  for  it.  Father  used  to  say:  "Never  depend  on 
others  to  do  for  you  what  you  can  do  for  yourself."  Self- 
help,  self-dependence,  and  simple  personal  wants  were 
wrought  into  my  life  as  habits, — the  good  habits  of  New 
England  in  those  days.  To  make  others  toil  for  you 
needlessly  was  wrong  ;  self-dependence  brought  self- 
respect  and  respect  for  others  ;  wasted  time  was  sinful  and 
pitiful,  and  personal  display  was  weak  vanity.  These 
ideas  sometimes  ran  to  niggardly  meanness,  to  hypocrisy 
and  asceticism,  but  all  this  was  but  perversion  and  excess, 
I  saw  them  practiced  by  those  whose  hands  were  "open 
as  day  to  melting  charity,"  but  whose  hearts  never  ran 
away  with  their  heads,  and  who  must  first  know  that 
their  charity  was  wise.  I  saw  money  paid  for  public 
good,  in  no  stinted  measure,  but  in  just  proportion,  by 
the  same  persons,  and  learned  later  in  life,  that  these 
good  habits  made  such  gifts  possible,  and  that  a  deep 
sense  of  duty  to  society  inspired  the  givers.  I  have  one 
man  in  mind,  a  farmer  elected  by  his  best  neighbors  to 
town  offices  which  he  held  for  years,  not  because  the 
honors  or  small  profits  led  him  to  seek  them,  but  because 
he  felt  it  a  duty  to  help  in  public  affairs,  and  because 
those  neighbors  knew  this,  and  knew  he  could  always  be 
trusted.     Many  such  men  were  elected  to  office  in  those 


UPIVAA'D  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  23 

old  town  meeting's — the  best  men,  in  the  true   sense  of  a 
much-abused  term. 

Let  the  appeal  to-day  be  for  the  stricken  victims  of 
yellow  fever  in  our  southern  cities,  for  the  sufferers  by 
forest  fires  amidst  the  smoking  ruin  of  home  and  farm  on 
Lake  Huron,  or  for  some  wise  plan  of  education  or 
needed  reform,  and  help  comes  from  New  England  as 
generously  in  proportion  to  her  means  as  from  any  other 
quarter,  and  comes  largely  from  those  trained  in  these 
simple  and  self-helping  ways,  and  filled  and  inspired 
with  that  sense  of  duty  which  is  a  grand  element  of  the 
Puritan  character. 

But,  coming  back  to  the  home-life.  Once  or  twice  a 
year  a  tailoress  used  to  come  into  our  family  to  make  up 
garments — old  ones  revamped  or  new.  I  would  often 
have  a  coat  made  from  one  of  my  father's,  and  I  used  to 
think  it  was  lucky  for  me  to  get  finer  coats  in  this  way 
than  I  should  have  had  otherwise.  Pantaloons  for  lads 
were  made  with  tucks  around  the  bottom,  to  be  let  down 
as  the  rising  youngster's  limbs  grew  longer,  and  were 
capacious  in  other  ways  to  allow  for  growth,  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes's  picture  of  the  boy  at  Col.  Sprowle's 
party,  who  came  with  his  parents,  clad  in  his  new  suit, 
"buttony  in  front  and  baggy  in  its  reverse  aspect,"  called 
to  my  mind  a  host  of  boys  that  I  knew.  The  coming  of 
this  tailoress  was  a  notable  event,  for  she  went  every- 
where, and  knew  all  about  everybody,  and  could  tell  a 
great  deal,  if  she  would.  The  gravely  pleasant  maiden- 
lady,  who  came  most  to  us,  was  a  wise  woman,  and 
would  not  gossip  ;  yet  she  told  us  a  good  many  innocent 
and  curious  things  about  the  household  ways  of  the 
>illage  dignitaries,  and  of  odd  doings  in  some  homelier 
families.  Occasionally  another  tailoress  came,  a  talking 
woman,  full  of  news  ;  and  then  the  children  were  content 
to  sit  in  their  small  chairs  and  hear  of  all  the  strange  say- 
ings and  doings  and  all  the  grand  ways  of  our  neighbors. 


24  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

She  meant  well,  and  aimed  to  steer  clear  of  dangerous 
things,  but  sometimes  she  "let  the  cat  out  of  the  bag," 
and  a  family  secret  went  on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  and 
there  followed  it  a  stream  of  wrath,  like  a  tongue  of  flame 
smiting  her  at  every  step  she  took.  Then  she  would  be 
quiet,  the  storm  would  abate,  her  spirits  would  rise  agair, 
and  her  poor  tongue  would  tell ;  and  then  another  tempest 
from  some  other  quarter  would  stir  the  air. 

A  story  spread  about  the  town  that  one  man  employed 
the  tailoress  to  turn  his  coats  and  remake  them  wrong 
side  out,  and  this  was  a  fruitful  topic  of  talk  and  com- 
ment, as  he  was  known  to  be  "  very  forehanded."  But 
when  he  paid  freely  for  the  burial  expenses  of  a  worthy 
laboring  man,  the  gossip  toned  down  a  little,  and  when  he 
was  eathered  to  his  fathers,  and  left  a  half  million  or 
more  for  wise  charities,  his  thrifty  ways  were  only  spoken 
of  to  his  credit. 

I  have  always  been  glad  that  I  lived  in  time  to  see,  and 
be  a  part  of,   that  old   phase  of  New  England  life  now 
passing  out  of  sight.    Harriet  Beechcr  Stowe,  Oliver  Wen- 
dell   Holmes,  and   Nathaniel    Hawthorne   are    the   three 
writers  who  have  given   us  the   most  of  the  real  life  of 
those  times.      Hawthorne's  "Scarlet  Letter"  is  a  psycho- 
logical study  and  a  revelation  of  Puritanism,  and  its  char- 
acters stand  in  the  sombre  shadow  or  the  white  light  of 
the  author's  imagination.      His  "  House  of  Seven  Gables  " 
gives  quaint  pictures  of  home-life,    and   new   studies    of 
character  in    milder   aspects.      Holmes'   "Elsie  Venner" 
is  a  faithful  portraiture  of  old-time  ways  and  thoughts, 
tinged  with  the  fine  hues  of  the  writer's  humor,  and  full 
of  instruction  as  well  as  of  healthy  interest     Mrs.  Stowe's 
"Minister's   Wooing"    is    a    mirror   of    those   days    and 
places  ;  her  "Old  Town  Folks  "  is  the  veritable  life  of  the 
Puritans,  in  its  later  periods,  not  only  that  life  on  its  sur- 
face, but  in  its  depths.     She  has  clear  insight  and  reverent 
appreciation  of  the  virtues  of  Puritanism,  and  yet  is  not 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  25 

blind  to  its  faults.  What  was  permanent  she  would 
uphold ;  what  was  transient  she  would  rate  at  its  fleeting 
value.  Wonderful  is  her  story  of  the  old-time  life  and 
habits — full  of  pathos  and  humor,  its  homely  traits  ver- 
itable indeed. 

Sam  Lawson  I  knew  for  years,  with  another  name.  I 
can  see  him  now,  enough  like  hers  to  be  of  near  kin  ; 
tall,  awkward,  loose-jointed,  a  swift  walker,  but  to  no  end  ; 
an  inveterate  do-nothing,  guiltless  of  a  day's  work  for 
thirty  years, — his  good  wife  tried  beyond  endurance  while 
he  ranged  the  country  over  his  circuit  of  some  ten  miles. 
He  never  spoke  a  vulgar  or  profane  word,  was  temperate 
in  habits,  decent  in  deportment,  religious  in  his  odd  way, 
led  an  aimless  life,  discussed  grave  topics  in  a  grave  way, 
yet  nobody  cared  a  straw  for  his  opinions  ;  in  short,  was 
a  Sam  Lawson,  a  sort  of  decent  vagabond,  not  possible 
elsewhere.  Deacon  Badger,  of  later  date,  and  with  a  new 
name,  was  our  neighbor, — a  good  Christian,  devout,  yet 
cheery  ;  orthodox,  but  with  a  twinkle  in  his  bright  eyes 
as  he  talked  over  the  Sunday's  sermon  ;  an  Arminian 
slant  in  his  theology  ;  a  human  goodness  in  his  soul,  tliat 
made  the  air  around  him  warm.  Miss  Mehitable  Ros- 
siter,  too,  had  another  name,  as  I  knew  her,  but  was 
veritably  the  same  person  Mrs.  Stowe  describes.  I  have 
been  at  the  old  parsonage,  sat  in  the  large,  low-ceiled 
library,  and  listened  to  her  sensible  talk.  I  have  seen 
her  come  into  church  on  Sundays,  and  noted  the  deference 
people  paid  her,  not  only  for  herself,  but  because  the 
blood  of  a  race  of  pious  clergymen  was  in  her  veins. 
The  verisimilitude  of  this  story  gives  it  a  great  charm,  its 
comprehension  of  the  deeper  issues  of  life  gives  it  great 
value.  So  long  as  these  books  last,  and  they  will  be 
classic  in  coming  times,  the  world  will  know  New  Eng- 
land in  its  earlier  days. 

To  finish  my  tasks  and  my  lessons  was  always  expected  of 
me,  but  both  were  welcome  and  not  heavy,  and  then  came 


26 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


my  blessed  freedom.  I  could  read  or  play,  or  wander  off 
alone  at  my  own  will  for  hours,  and  was  not  interfered 
with  or  hardly  questioned.  To  keep  out  of  poor  com- 
pany, and  to  tell  a  frank  story,  if  asked,  I  knew  was 
expected,  and  for  the  rest  I  felt  I  was  trusted,  and  would 
not  betray  that  trust.  A  great  help  it  is  to  be  trusted  ; 
growth  of  character  comes  from  it. 

Rambles  along  the  river  side  and  in  the  great  meadows, 
watching  birds  and  all  manner  of  wild  things  in  the 
woods,  and  looking  off  at  the  Tom  and  Holyoke  moun- 
tain ranges,  lifted  up  so  grandly  against  the  sky,  were  my 
delight,  and  a  lore  not  of  books  came  to  me.  Books  I 
read  eagerly,  too.  Up  in  an  old  apple  tree  in  our  yard 
was  a  nice  seat  among  the  branches — back  and  foot  rest, 
and  place  for  books,  all  of  the  curved  and  twining  limbs 
— and  there  I  would  sit  for  hours,  looking  up  now  and 
then  from  my  reading  to  the  foliage  around,  or  far  up 
into  the  great  bower  of  the  spreading  elms  near  by.  A 
favorite  place  was  that ;  it  seemed  as  though  one  could 
get  more  out  of  the  books  there  than  elsewhere.  At 
night,  when  the  house-roof  was  best  shelter,  there  was 
kind  approval  and  warning,  quiet  tenderness  with  serene 
wisdom,  but  never  passion  or  fretfulness.  How  fresh 
those  winter  evening  readings  of  newspapers  come  to 
mind  !  The  modern  magazines  were  not  in  being  then. 
The  North  American  Review,  choice  and  costly,  was  read 
by  a  limited  and  select  circle,  but  the  people  looked  up  to 
it  as  to  some  unapproachable  star.  We  had  the  Christian 
Register,  one  county  paper,  and  a  weekly  New  York 
'  sheet,  from  which  we  gained  knowledge  of  the  great 
world.  Our  neighborly  uncle  or  my  sister  would  read, 
while  mother  sewed,  and  father  rested  in  his  easy-chair, 
and  I  sat  on  my  little  stool  behind  the  stove.  So  we  had 
home  politics,  English  and  French  affairs,  Russian  wars 
across  the  Balkan,  glimpses  of  Calcutta  and  Pekin,  and 
events  in  other  lands  ;  not  of  yesterday,  by  telegram,  but 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  27 

of  weeks  and  months  past ;  not  copious  and  graphic,  as 
from  "our  own  correspondent,"  but  soHd  and  without 
sensationalism.  Those  evenings  were  no  small  part  of 
my  education,  to  which  may  be  added  occasional  evening' 
readings  of  books.  Our  household  talks  were  in  easy 
simplicity  of  language,  but  with  no  slang.  We  had  pure 
English  undefiled,  with  an  occasional  racy  provincialism. 
A  move  to  Wilbraham,  east  of  Springtield  a  few  miles, 
and  a  winters  stay  there  at  the  ample  farmhouse  of  my 
uncle,  Calvin  Stebbins,  was  an  event  of  moment.  The 
house  stood  on  a  corner,  facing-  south  and  west ;  east- 
ward, the  mountains,  a  thousand  feet  high,  were  near  at 
hand,^ — rocky,  forest-clad,  mysterious;  immense  then, 
but  sadly  dwindled  after  ten  years'  absence,  and  crossing: 
the  AUeghanies.  The  roar  of  the  swift  Scantic,  breaking 
throueh  the  hills  iust  south  of  the  farm,  could  be  heard. 
Westward  spread  the  plains  toward  the  meadows  on  the 
Connecticut — not  rich  soil  or  rich  farmers,  but  plain  livers 
and  diligent  workers  from  necessity.  Such  a  man  as 
Carlyle  describes  his  honored  father,  was  my  uncle 
Calvin,  only  with  larger  powers,  wider  culture  and  more 
of  what  the  sects  call  heresy,  which  is  sometimes,  as  with 
him,  the  deepest  religion.  He  had  three  boys  about  my 
age — from  eight  to  twelve — and  for  me,  with  no  brother, 
it  was  a  great  treat  to  be  with  them.  Winter  evenings 
we  would  all  group  around  the  kitchen  table  with  our 
books — geography,  Peter  Parley's  stories  and  the  like— 
and  the  hour  or  two  of  reading  and  talk  was  a  treat  we 
all  enjoyed,  my  uncle  being-  the  informal  teacher  and 
guide.  Then  he  would  say:  "Come,  boys,  we  are  a 
httle  tired;  now  some  apples,  and  then  to  bed."  One  of 
us  would  go  to  the  cellar  and  fill  a  milk  pan  with  apples  ; 
this  was  put  on  the  table,  another  turned  bottom  up  by 
its  side,  was  the  place  for  the  tallow  candle  to  stand. 
The  apples  were  enjf)yed,  the  parings  duly  put  away, 
and  then  we    scampered  upstairs   to  our  room,  jumped 


28  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

into  the  frosty  beds,  soon  made  them  warm  and  cozy, 
and  slept  fearless  of  dyspepsia.  Two  of  the  brothers  are 
still  on  earth.  If  I  could  call  one  from  his  medical  practice 
among-  the  Alleghany  hills  of  south-western  New  York, 
and  the  other  from  his  study  as  a  California  clergyman, 
I  am  sure  both  would  say  with  me,  that  those  evening 
lessons  are  not  worn  out  or  forgotten. 

Those  evening  readings  of  a  few  precious  books  well 
studied  bring  to  mind  the  Hatfield  Town  Library,  with 
its  500  volumes,  few  but  prized,  and  the  corner  shelves, 
or  the  little  cupboard  in  the  wall,  in  many  a  farmer's 
kitchen,  in  those  days,  where  the  Bible  and  a  scanty  row 
of  well-thumbed  books  were  seen, — all  faithfully  and 
thoughtfully  read,  until  no  golden  word  was  lost,  no  pearl 
of  great  price  neglected.  A  change  has  brought  us 
libraries,  and  magazines,  and  great  newspapers,  with 
nonsense  and  sensationalism  mixed  with  matters  of  mo- 
ment, and  we  read  as  we  eat,  eagerly  and  fast,  without 
discrimination,  and  with  a  fondness  for  the  high-seasoned 
and  unwholesome. 

I  once  knew  a  stout  black  boy,  just  at  the  hungry  age 
when  a  lad  will  eat  his  weight  every  day,  taken  from 
his  home  in  a  southern  city  where  his  fare  had  been 
plain,  and  made  table-waiter  in  a  home  of  abundance.  A 
jolly  boy  he  was  for  a  while.  Pie  and  pudding,  steak 
and  preserves,  and  chicken,  coffee  and  cake,  tea  and 
toast  and  ice-cream  wore  all  consumed  with  eager  joy 
and  in  goodly  quantity,  greatly  to  the  amusement  of  the 
family;  but  at  last  nature  rebelled.  He  lived,  for  he 
was  tough  and  hearty,  but  he  learned  to  choose  from  the 
abundance,  and  we  all  lost  the  sport  of  seeing  all  sorts  of 
goodies  eaten  by  the  plateful,  while  his  eyes  were  full  of 
greedy  glee. 

There  are  a  good  many  boys,  and  girls,  too,  of  all 
ages  and  races,  who  read  much  as  that  boy  ate. 

Our   abundance   of    books    and  journals    is   good   to 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  29 

choose  from,  and  a  wise  choice  is  sadly  needed.  With  it 
we  can  gain  the  thoughtfuhiess  of  our  good  ancestors 
with  a  wider  range  and  more  light  than  they  had  ;  with- 
out it  we  shall  live,  for  a  season,  in  a  world  of  sky- 
rockets and  mock  thunder,  all  to  end  in  chaos  of  dust  and 
ashes  and  void  darkness. 

OLIVER    SMITH. SOPHIA    SMITH. ELIZA    ANN    WARNER, 

''Though  never  shown  by  word  or  deed, 
Within  us  hes  some  germ  of  power, 
As  lies  un guessed  within  the  seed, 
The  latent  flower." 

A  frequent  and  welcome  visitor  at  our  home  in  Hat- 
field was  Oliver  Smith,  a  single  man,  about  my  father's 
age,  simple  in  habits,  social  and  cheerful.  It  was  my 
delight  to  sit  in  my  corner  and  listen  to  his  talk,  for  he 
knew  much  of  men  and  things,  and  his  genial  humor 
and  sagacity  attracted  and  instructed  us  all.  He  belonged 
to  a  notable  family.  At  one  time  there  were  six  brothers 
in  the  town,  the  youngest  over  sixty,  the  oldest  over 
eighty.  His  home  was  with  the  elder  brother,  "Squire 
Ben,"  near  the  meeting-house,  in  a  great  gambrel-roofed 
house  with  imposing  dormer  windows.  Once  or  twice  a 
year  the  parlor  was  opened  for  some  great  occasion,  the 
close  shutters  thrown  back,  and  the  sunshine  actually  let 
into  its  stately  space.  To  try  to  sit  in  the  high-backed, 
hair-seat  chairs,  in  which  none  but  the  watchfully  upright 
could  stay,  and  to  look  at  the  rich  velvet  wall-paper, 
with  its  regular  rows  of  shepherdesses  and  poppies,  was  a 
great  privilege.  The  family  were  above  putting  on  airs. 
They  had  a  decent  sense  of  good  blood  and  genteel 
breeding,  yet  their  daily  life  was  unpretending  and  care- 
taking. 

Oliver  Smith  was  the  rich  man  of  that  region,  a  banker 
and  a  money  lender,  just  and  honest,  not  given  to  rob- 
ing  the    poor,    but    exact   and    thorough,  and  expecting 


3 J  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

others  to  be  so.  He  loaned  money  at  six  per  cent.,  spent 
little,  and  the  surplus  grew  large.  I  have  known  of  his 
rendering  men  great  service. in  money  matters,  in  troub- 
lous times,'  on  terms  not  burdensome  to  them,  yet  safe  to 
himself,  when  a  hard  man  would  have  coined  wealth  out 
of  their  want.  He  was  called  penurious,  his  own  ways 
were  so  plain,  but  I  knew  of  his  quiet  charities,  his  left 
hand  hardly  knowing  what  the  right  hand  did.  For 
praise  or  blame  in  such  matters  he  cared  little.  On 
Mondays  he  rode  to  Northampton  bank,  four  miles  dis- 
tant, his  old  gray  horse  and  green  wagon  familiar  to  all. 
It  was  rumored  that  he  was  worth  almost  half  a  million, 
an  immense  sum  then,  equal  to  many  millions  now.  He 
was,  besides  my  father,  the  only  reader  of  the  Unitarian 
Christian  Register  in  Hatfield,  and  this  likeness  of  views 
probably  helped  to  bring  him  to  us.  At  last  he  passed 
away,  an  aged  man,  and  then  people  first  knew  that  he 
had  an  aim  and  purpose,  long  cherished  and  inspiring, 
the  secret  spring  of  his  cheerfulness.  He  left  the  bulk 
of  a  half-million  dollars  in  the  hands  of  trustees,  to  be 
invested  and  used  according  to  the  terms  of  a  long  and 
carefully  written  will.  Gifts  to  poor  and  worthy  girls  at 
their  marriage  ;  loans  at  low  interest  to  young  men  at 
their  majority,  who  had  some  useful  trade  or  industry  to 
pursue,  and  the  education  of  worthy  young  people  in 
certain  towns,  were  to  be  the  chief  uses  of  this  fund, 
which  was  to  last  for  a  long  time.  So  far  the  trustees 
have  done  well,  and  a  solid  stone  building  in  Northamp- 
ton, is  the  office  of  the  Oliver  Smith  Fund.  Seen  in  the 
light  of  this  lifelong  purpose,  his  careful  savings  are  no 
longer  the  graspings  of  the  miser,  but  the  wealth  of  the 
benefactor,  sacredly  laid  aside  and  dedicated  to  a  good 
end. 

Eliza  Ann  Warner,  an  adopted  child  of  the  Smith  family, 
was  for  a  long  time  his  confidential  secretary.  An  inti- 
mate friend  of  my  sister,  her  visits  were  always  welcome. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  31 

She  was  tall  and  delicate,  with  high  forehead,  dark  eyes, 
wonderfully  eloquent  and  tender,  finely  expressive  features 
and  a  singular  grace  and  charm  of  manners.  Her  intel- 
lect was  superior,  her  spiritual  life  tranquil  and  deep. 
Her  vivid  imagination  would  dwell  in  a  world  of  romance 
and  delight,  yet  a  strong  sense  of  duty  led  her  never  to 
slight  any  daily  task.     She  was  a  rare  person, 

"Who  did  adorn, 
The  world  whereinto  she  was  born." 

I  last  saw  her,  gray-haired  and  in  delicate  health.  I  did 
not  give  my  name,  but  she  knew  me  after  long  years  of 
separation.  I  found,  as  I  expected,  that  time  had  ripened, 
but  not  impaired  her  excellence  and  the  beauty  of  her 
character. 

Another  worthy  member  of  this  family  I  knew,  Sophia 
Smith,  a  niece  of  Oliver.  Her  father  was  a  rich  farmer, 
and  Austin,  Harriet  and  Sophia — all  single — shared  his 
wealth  and  made  their  home  in  the  old  house.  The 
sisters  were  reticent  and  quiet,  but  once  or  twice  a  year 
they  had  a  great  party  ;  inviting  fifty  or  sixty  town-folks, 
young  and  old,  to  tea  and  an  evening.  The  tall  wax 
candles,  the  lofty  brass  andirons,  the  solid  mahogany 
furniture  and  elegant  tea  service,  gave  us  a  glimpse  of  old 
style  gentility,  which  we  prized.  Brother,  sister,  and 
other  kindred  passed  away,  and  their  money  came  into 
Sophia's  coffers,  making  her  one  of  the  wealthiest  women 
in  the  State.  She  was  orthodox  in  theology,  earnest,  sin- 
cere, and  conscientious.  I  remember  her  mental  strength 
and  practical  good  sense,  but  she  was  not  known  to  have 
any  special  interest  in  plans  of  education  or  culture  of  any 
kind.  She  kept  her  own  counsels,  and  so  was  misjudged 
during  her  life.  When  she  passed  on  it  was  found  that 
she  had  left  a  half-million  to  build  and  endow  the  Smith 
College  for  women  at  Northampton,  and  seventy-five 
thousand  dollars   for  a  free  Academy  in  her  own  town. 


-2  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

For  years  all  this  had  been  in  her  mind,  and  she  had  held 
private  consultations  with  the  best  educators  and  lawyers, 
that  all  might  be  well  and  securely  arranged.  The  written 
directions  as  to  these  useful  institutions  gave  proofs  of 
marked  wisdom  on  her  part.  No  doubt  this  lonely  woman 
had  many  hours  of  enjoyment  in  maturing  these  plans, 
and  thinking  of  the  benefits  that  others  would  derive 
from  them  after  she  had  gone  from  the  earth — her  neigh- 
bors meanwhile  wondering  whom  she  was  hoarding  her 
wealth  for.  That  enjoyment  would  have  been  greater, 
and  the  prospects  of  lasting  success  increased,  had  she 
started  these  noble  enterprises  in  her  lifetime,  and  given 
them  the  help  of  her  wisdom  in  their  opening  days. 
Peter  Cooper  was  wise  in  this  respect,  and  his  wisdom 
brought  happiness  to  his  last  golden  hours.  Miss  Smith 
was  not  supposed  to  have  any  marked  interest  in  the  edu- 
cation of  women,  or  any  advanced  views  of  the  matter,  but 
she  must  have  thought  much  and  well  on  those  important 
subjects  ;  and  while  she  was  musing  the  sacred  fire 
burned  to  some  purpose.  Passing  through  the  College 
buildings  a  few  years  ago,  noting  the  excellent  devices 
and  helps  for  the  best  education,  and  looking  from  the 
windows  over  the  fine  old  town,  and  the  lovely  meadows 
and  river  beyond,  it  seemed  true,  as  I  thought  of  that 
prudent  woman  piling  away  her  large  income  with  no 
apparent  object,  and  of  this  use  to  which  it  came,  that : 
"  It  is  the  unexpected  which  happens." 

SELF-HELP. 

To  me  the  time  was  coming  when  I  must  pay  my  own 
expenses,  and  begin  some  lasting  work,  I  wanted  to  do 
it,  for  that  was  the  good  way  for  all  boys.  If  a  lad,  rich 
or  poor,  hung  around  aimless  and  idle,  the  saying  was  : 
"He  won't  amount  to  nothin'."  If  he  went  to  work  it 
was  said  :  "That  boys  got  grit,  he'll  make  somethin'." 
I  loved  books,  but  did  not  look  toward  a  college  ;  farm- 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVEXTY   YEARS. 


3? 


inof  was  too  heavy  for  mv  strenofth.  and  so,  in  mv  four- 
teenth  year,  I  went  into  the  hardware  store  of  Homer 
Foot  &  Co.,  wholesale  importers  and  retail  dealers  in 
Springfield,  at  a  salary  of  S50  a  year  and  my  board. 
After  that  it  was  my  pride  that  1  did  not  cost  my  good 
father  a  cent,  and  the  fact  gave  me  valuable  self-re- 
liance. 

My  employers  always  treated  me  well,  and  trained  me 
in  careful  methods  of  business  and  prompt  doing  of  my 
work.  I  remember  their  ways  to  me  with  grateful 
pleasure.  I  had  a  new  enjoyment — the  being  trusted  in 
matters  of  importance.  I  kept  books,  took  charge  of 
money,  and  the  safety  of  the  premises  was  left  to  me.  I 
remember  coming  down  one  morning  from  my  sleeping 
room  to  open  the  store,  and  finding  that  I  had  left  the 
front  door  without  bolt  or  bar  all  night !  Fc-tunately 
nothing  was  disturbed,  but  my  carelessness  filled  me 
with  inexpressible  regret.  I  did  not  tell  of  it,  but  the 
door  was  never  left  unbolted  again. 

Then  came  years  in  a  country  store  in  Hatfield,  as 
clerk  and  partner.  In  long  winter  evenings,  we  had  all 
public  and  private  affairs  discussed  by  the  men  who  came 
in, — for  the  days  of  tavern  lounging  %vere  going  by,  and 
decent  men  liked  the  store  better  than  the  bar-room.  A 
curious  incident  comes  to  mind.  One  of  the  "selectmen  " 
of  the  town  was  a  Universalist,  the  only  man  in  the 
village  who  avowed  the  strange  heresy  that  men  were 
not  burned  forever  for  their  sins.  He  was  so  good  that 
one  day  an  orthodox  neighbor  said  to  him  :  "I  can't  un- 
derstand how  you  act  so  well,  I  shouldn't,  if  I  believed  as 
you  do."  A  reckless  and  dissipated  man  near  by  was  a 
hard  swearer,  where  profanity  was  uncommon  and  dis- 
tasteful. He  swore  bitterly  and  defiantly,  and  there  were 
murmurs  of  legal  punishment.  One  day,  in  the  store,  he 
waxed  violent  in  language  in  the  presence  of  this  Uni- 
versalist otKcial,  who  soon  left,  and  as  he  went  out  there 


o 
O 


34  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

was  a  new  outbreak  of  defiant  oaths  with  the  spiteful 
savino-,  "I  guess  none  of  these  town  officers  can  tie  my 
tongue." 

The  selectman  soon  came  in  again  and  quietly  handed 
out  a  warrant  for  his  arrest.  Such  a  chop-fallen  and 
amazed  expression  I  Across  the  road  came  the  trial,  proof 
abundant ;  five  dollars  fine,  and  bonds  for  good  be- 
havior ;  all  settled,  and  the  fine  paid  in  an  hour.  For  a 
month  the  poor  man  walked  the  streets  with  bowed  head, 
subdued  spirit,  and  sealed  lips — humiliated  and  amazed. 
Then  he  partly  recovered,  a  small  oath  that  nobody  cared 
for  would  slip  out  sometimes,  but  the  old  fire  was  gone. 
The  amazement  grew  among  pious  people  how  "  that 
Universalist"  had  courage  to  do  such  a  good  thing,  and 
they  all  gave  him  just  credit  for  it.  I  liked  mercantile 
life  well  enough,  but  left  it  without  either  large  success 
or  disastrous  failures.  It  gave  me  valuable  knowledge 
of  men  and  things.  If  a  boy  is  to  be  educated  for  ten 
years,  let  a  part  of  it  be  on  a  farm,  or  in  a  mechanic's 
shop  or  store,  and  then  good  work  with  his  books,  and 
he  will  have  practical  sagacity  and  common-sense,  as 
strong  foundations  for  a  broad  and  true  culture.  He  will 
be  saved  from  the  poor  dilettanteism,  the  affecting  to 
look  down  on  the  world's  great  industries,  too  common 
among  those  called  educated  men,  but  who  are  really 
only  half  educated.     Changing  the  old  couplet  : 

"  All  work  and  no  books  makes  Jack  a  dull  boy, 
All  books  and  no  work  makes  Jack  a  mere  toy." 

Much  was  learned  in  that  Hatfield  store  from  the  talk 
of  men  and  women.  Of  quaint  ways  of  speech  there  was 
'  abundance  ;  of  vulgarity  and  of  slang  but  little.  Their 
comments  on  the  affairs  of  Church  and  State  were  not  flip- 
pant or  shallow.  One  felt  and  respected  their  earnestness, 
even  though  they  might  sometimes  be  narrow  and  imper- 
fect.    The  village  dignitaries  had  seen  life  in  cities  and 


UFIVAKD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  35 

in  legislative  assemblies,  and  acted  well  their  part  in  the 
larger  fields  that  make  thought  cosmopolitan.  I  well  re- 
member the  courtly  grace  of  manner  and  the  ease  in  con- 
versation of  a  venerable  deacon — a  hard-working  farmer 
who  could  pitch  on  a  load  of  hay  as  quick  as  any  man. 

A  few  of  the  most  cultivated  and  charming  women  I 
ever  knew  did  their  share  of  housework  among  that  busv 
people,  illustrating  the  unity  of  duty  and  beauty  in  their 
admirable  lives.  There  were  others,  men  and  women, 
slaves  to  farm  and  kitchen,  muckrakes  and  drudges,  poor 
in  spirit.  I  heard  the  daily  talk  of  trade  and  politics,  of 
social  and  religious  life. 

Material  for  volumes  of  tragic  and  humorous  story  was 
in  the  family  secrets  that  became  known  to  the  villao-e 
merchant.  Strange  revelations,  for  instance,  touchins- 
women  of  respectable  and  pious  families  who  lived  in 
solid  old  farmhouses,  went  out  but  little,  wore  an  air  of 
toilsome  and  hopeless  endurance,  did  their  duty  as  wives 
and  mothers,  sank  into  enfeebled  gloom,  and  died  with  lips 
sadly  sealed  ;  victims  of  crushing  passion  and  greed  for 
gain  on  the  part  of  husbands  whom  they  felt  in  duty  bound 
to  obey  in  all  things.  All  these  were  kept  inviolate.  ,  My 
father  early  said  to  me:  "Never  reveal  secrets,"  and  his 
excellent  advice  was  of  great  service. 

The  village  oddities  were  odd  enough.  One  was  a  man 
of  middle  age,  keeping  bachelor's  hall  in  his  great  sham- 
bling house  a  century  old,  who  was  of  very  regular  habits 
in  one  respect : — he  drank  a  quart  of  rum  daily  for  thirty 
years,  on  six  days  of  the  week.  On  Saturday  night  at 
sunset  he  stopped  until  Sunday  at  the  same  hour,  and  de- 
voted the  totally  abstinent  hours  of  the  Puritan  Sabbath  to 
reading  the  Bible  by  course.  He  visited  the  store  often, 
coming  in  with  a  softly  shambling  gait  to  sit  down  and 
tell  stories  and  moralize  with  sage  severity.  He  was  not 
vulgar  or  profane,  but  sensible  and  foolish  in  well-nieh 
the  same  odd  sentence  ;  on  the  whole  not  an  uninstructive 


,6  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEANS. 

visitor.  One  quiet  Monday  morning  in  the  summer  he 
stepped  in  noiselessly  and  said:  "How  still  you  be! 
Well,  I've  just  read  the  old  book  through  the  seventeenth 
time."  I  asked  :  "How  do  you  know  that.-*"  And  his 
answer  was  :  "I  make  a  mark  with  a  pen  on  the  last  leaf 
when  I  finish,  and  then  I  go  back  and  begin  at  the  first 
Chapter  of  Genesis,  and  put  in  a  mark  each  Sunday  night 
where  I  stop."  Thus  he  kept  his  thread  of  Sabbath  Scrip- 
ture unbroken,  and  was  ready  to  begin  the  steady  task  of 
the  week — a  quart  of  rum  a  day — on  Sunday  evening. 
His  early  training  kept  him  sober  one  seventh  part  of  the 
time,  and  he  had  a  great  facility  in  quoting  Bible  texts. 
Once  in  five  or  six  months  he  went  to  meeting — always 
dressed  carefully  in  knee-breeches,  long  coat  with  brass 
buttons,  an  immense  bell-crowned  white  hat,  shoes  with 
great  silver  buckles,  and  carrying  a  silver-headed  cane. 
In  this  garb  of  a  past  generation  he  would  walk  solemnly 
into  the  meeting-house  on  Sunday  morning,  gravely  re- 
turn the  sober  salutations  of  others,  seat  himself  in  some 
good  pew,  and  listen  to  the  sermon  with  an  aspect  of  de- 
vout satisfaction  and  interest,  worthy  the  oldest  deacon  of 
the  church. 

He  was  a  life  long  Democrat,  in  old  Federal  and  Demo- 
cratic days,  and  has  often  told  me  how  his  persistence 
carried  the  State  for  his  party.  For  seventeen  years, 
Hon.  Marcus  Morton  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  elected,  at  last,  by  a 
majority  of  one  vote.  Of  course,  every  man  who  voted 
for  him  could  say  that  he  elected  him.  As  this  man  of 
steady  (drinking)  habits  told  me  his  story,  he  said : 
"The  town  meetin's  used  to  be  held  in  the  old  meetin' 
house,  and  I  began  to  vote  for  Marcus,  and  I  stuck  to 
him.  I  was  not  ashamed  of  my  politics,  and  I  got  a  good 
penman  to  write  my  ballot  in  big  letters  on  a  half-sheet 
of  paper.  I  took  my  ballot  in  my  hand,  walked  up  the 
broad  aisle  with  the  rest  to  the  ballot  box  that  stood  on 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YE  A  PS.  37 

the  commuhion  table  under  the  pulpit,  handed  my  sheet 
to  the  town  clerk  to  put  in,  so  that  everybody  could  see  it, 
and  then  went  down  the  side  aisle  and  went  home  ;  for  I 
never  believe  in  hangin'  round  and  makin'  a  noise  election 
days  ;  tain't  right.  Seventeen  times  I  voted  for  Marcus, 
and  I  fetched  him  !  Git  a  good  hold  and  stick  to  it,  is 
my  way." 

A  strange  fascination  lingers  around  these  early  days, 
and  around  the  aspects  and  ways  of  that  old-time  life 
which  we  love  to  recall,  yet  would  not  live  over  again. 
But  I  do  not  accept  the  theory  that  childhood  and  youth 
are  the  happiest  periods  of  human  existence.  With 
wisely  decent  conduct  each  period  brings  its  enjoyments, 
but  our  own  misdeeds  and 

"The  slings  and  arrows  of  outrageous  fortune," 

mar  all  this,  and  force  us  back  to  childhood  for  some 
partial  compensation.  A  theology,  faithless  of  man's 
progress,  putting  Eden  in  the  world's  infancy  to  be  lost 
ere  its  prime,  tends  the  same  way  ;  leading  us  to  despair 
of  the  deeper  enjoyments  of  our  maturer  years — those 
years  that  should  be  full  of  interior  light  and  peace.  It 
is  in  life  as  in  nature.  The  spring  time  is  fresh  and  hope- 
ful in  its  glad  beauty,  but  summer  has  richer  wealth; 
autumn  its  mellow  glory,  deeper  than  any  tint  of  April 
skies  ;  and  winter  its  enjoyment  of  garnered  fruits  and  its 
sure  hope  of  a  new  spring.  Our  later  days  bring  enjoy- 
ments deeper  than  youth  can  know,  and  foregleams  of  an 
immortality  glowing  with  a  radiance  \vhich  makes  the 
light  of  Eden's  garden  pale  and  poor.  Youth  is  the  ripple 
and  sparkle  of  the  brook  near  its  source,  transparent  and 
fresh  ;  age  is  the  tranquil  flow  of  the  river,  broad  and 
deep  as  it  nears  the  blue  ocean. 

To  tell  of  certain  noble  reforms  of  the  last  half  century, 
and  of  some  excellent  persons  I  have  known,  is  of  more 


4C2355 


3  S  UJ'fVA  RD  S  TEPS  OF  SE  VENTY  YEA  KS. 

consequence  and  interest  than  any  continuous  autobiog- 
raphy. So  much  of  personal  narration  and  experience  as 
may  add  interest  to  these  leading-  aims  may  be  allowed, 
and  no  more  ;  therefore  this  chapter  of  childhood  and 
youth  must  close. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  39 


CHAPTER  II. 

OLD-TIME    GOOD   AND    ILL — RELIGIOUS    GROWTH — REFORMS. 

"Out  from  the  heart  of  nature  rolled 
The  burdens  of  the  Bible  old  ; 

****** 

The  word  by  seers  or  sibyls  told, 
In  groves  of  oak  or  fanes  of  gold, 
Still  floats  upon  the  morning  wind, 
Still  whispers  to  the  willing  mind. 
One  accent  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
The  heedless  world  hath  never  lost." 

Emerson. 

Fifty  years  ago  the  old  meeting-house  stood  in  the 
centre  of  the  broad  street  in  Hatfield,  It  was  a  "meet- 
ing-house," not  a  church,  and  "to  go  to  meeting"  was 
the  old  phrase,  in  which  was  no  tinge  of  Episcopacy. 
The  high  pulpit  had  steep,  winding  stairs  by  which  the 
"sacred  desk"  was  reached — a  lofty  place  from  whence 
the  pastor  looked  down  on  his  flock,  his  voice  reaching 
them  as  from  the  high  heavens.  Over  that  pulpit  was  the 
great  sounding  board,  theoretically  to  carry  the  spoken 
word  out  to  the  pews  and  walls,  but  having  no  effect  of 
that  kind,  and  really  serving  to  set  the  busy  brains  of 
boys  and  girls  thinking  what  would  happen  if  it  fell  and 
crushed  the  poor  minister  beneath. 

Deep  and  high  galleries  ran  around  three  sides,  reached 
by  two  stairways  in  the  corners.  High  above  and  built 
over  those  stairways,  and  reached  by  another  flight  of 
steps,  were  two  great,  square  pews,  seen  from  the  whole 


40  UPWA/^D  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

gallery  and  from  below.  One  was  the  "pauper  pew," 
and  the  other  the  "negro  pew,"  and  the  occupants  were 
these  poor  pariahs  of  our  Christian  civilization,  lifted  up 
in  these  most  conspicuous  places  to  be  stared  at !  For 
more  than  a  hundred  years  that  was  the  only  place  dedi- 
cated to  Sunday  meetings.  A  few  Methodists  meeting  in 
a  poor  school-house  back  in  the  swamps  were  tolerated, 
an  occasional  Universalist  or  Unitarian  met  no  rude 
abuse,  but  felt  a  chill  m  the  social  air.  The  faith  of  the 
Puritans  bore  sway,  and  all  else  was  dangerous  heresy. 
Great  changes  have  taken  place.  The  Westminster 
Catechism  is  no  longer  a  household  book,  and  even  the 
most  orthodox  hardly  wish  it  back  again.  "The  Day  of 
Doom,"  that  poetic  description  of  "The  Great  and  Last 
Judgment,"  by  Michael  Wigglesworth,  which  was  also  a 
household  book,  in  Puritan  Massachusetts,  two  hundred 
years  ago,  would  not  be  warmly  welcomed  in  the  home 
of  the  modern  professor  of  religion.  Its  author  says  of 
that  great  day  : 

"  In  vain  do  they  to  mountains  say,  Fall  on  us,  and  us  hide 

From  Judge's  ire,  more  hot  than  fire,  for  who  may  it  abide  ? 

No  hiding  place  can  from  his  face,  sinners  at  all  conceal. 

Whose  flaming  eye  hid  things  doth  spy,  and  darkest  things  reveal." 

Infants  are  portrayed  as  having  a  plea  made  for  them, 
but  the  stern   answer  comes  from  the  Judgment   seat : 

"  You  sinners  are,  and  such  a  share  as  sinners  may  expect, 
Such  you  shall  have,  for  I  do  save  none  but  mine  own  elect. 

****         ****** 

But  unto  you  I  will  allow  the  easiest  room  in  hell." 

What  that  is  we  learn  as  follows  : 

"The  least  degree  of  misery  there  felt  is  incomparable; 

The  lightest  pain  they  there  sustain  is  more  than  intolerable. 

But  God's  great  power,  from  hour  to  hour,  upholds  them  in  the  fire, 

That  they  shall  not  consume  a  jot  or  by  its  force  expire. 

********** 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  41 

With  iron  bands  they  bind  their  hands  and  cursed  feet  to-gether, 
And  cast  them  all,  both  great  and  small,  into  that  lake  forever. 
Where  day  and  night,  without  respite,  they  wail  and  cry  and  howl, 
For  torturing  pain,  which  they  sustain,  in   body  and  in  soul." 

These  are  specimens  from  the  Saurian  age  of  theology, 
when  infant  damnation   was  preached  from  the  pulpits, 
and  all  mankind    were  held  totally  depraved  by  nature, 
and  a  few  only  saved  by  special  divine  grace.     Yet  this 
writer  has  been  called    "  a  man  of  the  beatitudes,"   and 
his  daily  life  was  kind  and  genial.      In  England,  Puritan- 
ism did  great  service.      It  was  a  religious  reform  helping 
to  break  down  old  tyranny  and  to  rebuke  vice  in  Church 
and  State.      In  New  England  it  nurtured  noble  virtues  as 
well  as  grave  errors,  and  its  advocates  did  a  great  work, 
but  the  world  looked  for  more  light,  and  the  light  must 
come.     It  was  my  good  fortune  to  live  on  the  border  be- 
tween The  Old  Time  and  The  New,  to  know  personally 
something  of  the  Pilgrim  life  and  thought,  and  to  know 
and  feel  that 

"  The  pure   fresh  impulse  of  to-day 
Which  thrills  within  the  human  heart, 
As  time-worn  errors  pass  away, 
Fresh  life  and  vigor  shall  impart." 

It  is  interesting  and  noteworthy  to  see  how  one  step 
opened  the  way  for  another,  by  a  moral  and  spiritual 
evolution  corresponding  to  the  steps  of  rock  and  clod 
along  the  spiral  pathway  reaching  up  to  grass  and  flower 
and  man.  The  intense  earnestness  of  Puritanism  stirred  the 
soul  and  awakened  thought,  and  the  mandate  of  priest  or 
council  seeking  to  fetter  that  thought  was  as  futile  as  an 
effort  "to  bind  the  sweet  influences  of  the  Pleiades." 
Their  restraint  hindered  for  a  season,  but  the  poor  bar- 
riers broke  at  last,  and  each  gap  gave  new  vantage  ground. 
Arminian  tendencies  crept  in.  The  story  is  told  of  a  coun- 
cil of  ministers  examining  a  young  candidate  in  theology 
when  one  of  them,    suspecting  heresy,  said  sternly;  "If 


4  2  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

things  go  in  this  way  I  must  secede,"  whereat  Dr.  Lathrop, 
of  West  Springfield,  a  saintly  preacher  of  generous  views, 
replied  :  "If  our  brother  secedes  we  must  proceed."  But 
the  heresy-hunter  was  right,  for  the  young  candidate  was 
a  Unitarian  m  less  than  thirty  years. 

Then  came  John  Murray  from  England,  cast  on  the 
Long  Island  coast  as  a  shipwrecked  waif,  but  found  by  the 
farmer  who  had  seen  him  in  a  dream,  and  known  him  as 
the  preacher  for  whom  he  had  been  guided  by  that  vision 
to  build  a  church,  where  the  love  of  God  sufficient  to  save 
all  mankind  should  be  proclaimed.  Such  a  conception 
of  the  Divine  goodness  naturally  led  to  a  higher  ideal 
of  humanity,  and  William  E.  Channing,  in  his  Federal 
Street  pulpit  in  Boston,  set  forth  with  golden  eloquence 
the  worth,  dignity,  and  capacity  for  endless  culture  of 
man,  made  in  God's  image  and  likeness.  Old  asperities 
softened,  and  the  leaven  kept  working.  Should  man,  heir 
of  such  a  destiny  and  child  of  such  a  father,  be  made  a 
slave  in  this  boasted  land  of  liberty  ?  Surely  not.  The 
Quaker  element  came  in  to  emphasize  this  demand  for 
freedom,  and  found  voice  in  Whittier's  word  : 

"The  one  sole  sacred  thing  beneath 
The  cope  of  heaven  is  man. ' 

Political  and  religious  ideas  were  in  unison,  and  so 
grew  the  anti-slavery  movement — so  small  at  first,  so 
resistless  at  last !  The  equality  of  man  involved  that  of 
woman.  A  gifted  Quaker,  Lucretia  Mott,  went  to  London 
in  1840,  as  delegate  to  a  World's  Anti-slavery  Convention, 
and  was  refused  admission  because  she  was  a  woman, 
and  the  injustice  of  that  refusal  gave  new  life  and  organic 
shape  to  woman's  rights.  Far  out  in  the  then  distant  wilds 
of  Michigan,  Elizabeth  Margaret  Chandler  made  touching 
protest  against  the  silence  enforced  on  her  sex  by  old 
custom  and  old  Bible  rendering  : 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  43 

"Shall  we  behold  unheeding, 
Life's  holiest  feelings  crushed  ? 
While  woman's  heart  is  bleeding, 
Shall  woman's  voice  be  hushed  ?  " 

With  this  discussion  came  new  views  of  the  subjection 
of  woman,  pledged  religiously  to  obey  her  husband  as 
master,  to  look  up  to  him  after  the  manner  of  Milton's 
Eve.  Marriage  was  discussed,  much  of  truth,  with  some- 
thing of  error,  coming  up.  Theodore  Parker  said  that  the 
errors  were  "but  the  dust  from  the  wagon  wheels  bring- 
ing home  the  harvest,"  and  surely  higher  conceptions  of 
the  sanctity  of  maternity,  and  of  woman  as  the  loving 
and  equal  helpmate  of  man,  with  the  wife's  right  to  her 
own  person  and  property,  have  steadily  gained  ground. 

In  the  discussion  of  these  questions  many  of  the 
clergy  held  up  the  Bible  as  in  favor  of  chattel  slavery  and 
woman's  subjection,  and  this  opened  the  way  for  new 
doubts  as  to  the  infallibility  of  the  book.  A  popular 
clergyman  in  Maine,  told  his  large  audience  that  "it 
was  a  great  misfortune  for  a  minister  to  hold  up  a  book 
as  contradicting  the  holiest  feelings  of  humanity. "  Henry 
C.  Wright,  with  his  usual  power,  put  the  case  in  the  plain 
way  of  the  fearless  abolitionist:  "If  my  mother  was 
a  slave,  and  I  were  told  the  Bible  sanctioned  her  con- 
dition, I  would  put  the  Bible  under  my  feet  and  make  my 
mother  free."  Thus  did  it  become  possible  for  Theodore 
Parker  to  stand  before  the  largest  Protestant  audiences 
in  Boston  and  preach  in  Music  Hall  for  years,  saying 
frankly  and  manfully  that  the  Bible  was  a  human  book, 
valuable  but  fallible — to  be  judged  by  our  reason,  but 
never  set  up  as  authority  over  us.  To-day  liberal  minis- 
ters, especially  Unitarians,  begin  to  take  the  same 
ground,  and  many  of  the  people  are  in  advance  of  most 
of  the  clergy.  Atheism  and  agnosticism  are  reactions 
from  the  Jewish  Jehovah  and  the  dogmas  of  theology. 
Modern  Spiritualism  makes  the  future  life  real  and  near, 


44  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

binding  it  to  this  by  the  strong  ties  of  eternal  law  and 
undying  human  love,  and  gives  us  a  natural  religion  and 
a  spiritual  philosophy,  rational,  inspiring,  and  enlarging. 
It  is  an  outgrowth  and  complement  of  New  England 
transcendentahsm,  supplementing  the  intuitive  ideas  of 
that  remarkable  movement  with  facts  and  a  psychological 
system  which  give  them  clearness  and  definite  meaning. 

So  the  world  moves,  and  must  move.  Trouble  may 
sometimes  come  from  the  misuse  of  freedom  of  thought, 
but  truth  gains  and  charity  grows.  When  the  spring 
flood  comes  swelling  and  sweeping  down  some  mountain 
stream,  it  carries  along,  and  tosses  up  on  the  hillsides, 
the  fioodwood  and  wreck  that  mark  its  course,  and  the 
loosened  ice  grinds  to  pieces  whatever  it  strikes  ;  but 
the  flood  subsides,  the  fertilized  fields  pay  back  more 
than  all  the  losses,  and  the  summer  life  and  autumnal 
plenty  are  better  than  the  reign  of  ice-bound  winter. 
We  can  see,  too,  the  dawn  of  the  glad  day  when  perse- 
cution for  opinion's  sake  shall  cease  ;  when  mankind 
shall  recognize  the  benefit  of  progressive  change,  and 
learn 

"  To  make  the  present  with  the  future  merge, 
Gently  and  peacefully,  as  wave  with  wave." 

Odd  enough  were  some  of  the  old  protests  against  the 
autocratic  authority  of  the  clergy.  The  story  comes  down 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  a  Hatfield  farmer — an  eccen- 
tric but  good  man,  one  of  the  silent  dissenters  from 
orthodoxy,  whose  very  silence  brought  suspicion — who 
was  walking  beside  his  ox-team  and  cart  up  the  street, 
and  met  the  minister.  He  saluted  him  with  the  same 
friendly  respect  he  would  show  a  neighbor,  but  the  cus- 
tom was  to  lift  the  hat  to  the  preacher,  and  this  he  did  not 
do.  The  demand  came:  "Take  off  your  hat,  sir,"  to 
which  no  attention  was  paid,  when  the  minister  raised  his 
cane  and  struck  the  hat  off  from  that  rebellious  head.    The 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  45 

wearer  quietly  took  it  up  and  put  it  on  ajrain,  stopped  his 
team,  set  his  long  gad  carefully  upright  in  the  grass,  and 
let  it  go.  It  fell,  pointing  southwest,  and  he  picked  it  up 
and  went  quietly  on  his  way,  the  lookers  on  wondering 
what  this  new  oddity  meant.  In  a  few  months  he  sold 
his  farm  and  left  for  Connecticut  ;  in  a  year  he  came 
back  and  said  :  "When  that  priest  knocked  my  hat  off,  I 
thought  I  would  set  up  my  ox-gad  and  see  which  way  it 
fell,  and  move  that  way,  and  I've  found  a  place  where  1 
don't  have  to  take  off  my  hat  to  the  priest." 

The  parish  minister  used  to  be  the  arbiter  as  to  all  public 
meetings,  and  his  word  would  open  or  close  the  doors  to 
a  lecturer  on  any  topic  of  reform  or  religion.  The  anti- 
slavery  movement  broke  up  this,  for  their  lecturers  would 
speak  for  freedom  in  every  parish,  with  or  without  con- 
sent of  clergy.  A  general  meeting  of  Congregational 
clergymen  was  called  in  West  Brookfield,  Mass.,  some 
fifty  years  ago  to  see  what  could  be  done.  One  of 
those  present  said  :  "One  of  these  itinerants  came  to  my 
parish  and  advertised  to  speak.  I  took  my  hat  and  cane 
and  walked  up  one  side  of  the  street  and  told  my  people 
not  to  tro,  and  then  down  the  other  side  in  the  same  way, 
and  nobody  went."  Others  were  less  fortunate,  and  what 
to  do  was  a  vexed  question.  "A  pastoral  letter"  was 
sent  out  to  the  churches,  urging  action,  but  it  was  met  by 
a  reaction  disastrous  to  their  efforts.  Whittier  wrote  a 
ringing  poem,  of  which  a  verse  will  show  the  quality  : 

*«So  this  is  all,  the  utmost  reach 

Of  priestly  power  the  mind  to  fetter, 

When  laymen  think,  when  women  preach, 
A  war  of  words,  a  pastoral  letter  ! 

A  "  Pastoral  Letter,"  grave  and  dull- 
Alas  !  in  hoofs  and  horns  and  features. 

How  different  is  your  Brookfield  bull, 
From  him  who  bellows  at  St.  Peter's." 

A  few  years  since  a  young  clergyman  told  me  of  the 


46  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

advice  of  an  old  preacher  to  a  group  of  clerical  students. 
He  said  :  "Young  men,  never  be  priests,  be  ministers  ; 
men  helping  other  men,  but  not  priests."  He  was  wiser 
than  those  at  West  Brookfield. 

Reverence  for  sacred  places  and  days  was  part  of  the 
old  education,  taught  but  mildly  to  me,  but  in  the  very 
air.  One  day,  in  my  boyhood,  I  went  alone  to  the  meet- 
ing house  on  an  errand,  and  lingered  to  walk  up  the  silent 
aisles.  Curiosity  led  me  toward  the  pulpit,  up  its  steps, 
inside  and  to  the  very  desk,  where  I  stood  in  the  minister's 
place  with  my  hands  on  the  great  Bible  before  me.  At  once 
a  wave  of  feeling  came  over  me  as  though  I  was  a  pro- 
fane trespasser  on  holy  ground,  and  I  ran  down  the  steps 
and  out  of  the  door,  fearful  and  ashamed. 

At  home  the  Sabbath  was  free  from  the  solemnity  which 
ruled  in  many  households.  It  was  deemed  a  good  day 
for  rest  and  thought,  beneficial  as  such,  but  not  holy  after 
the  Jewish  idea,  and  was  kept  quietly  but  not  austerely. 
A  school-master  who  had  boarded  with  us  some  time, 
changed  his  quarters  to  another  family.  On  a  Saturday 
morning  he  came  in  and  said  to  my  mother:  "  Can  I 
stay  here  over  Sunday }  Saturday  night  all  the  newspapers 
and  books  are  put  out  of  sight,  and  Scott's  Bible  and  the 
Nciv  York  Observer  are  brought  out.  Nobody  can  laugh 
or  look  cheerful,  and  I  can't  live  there."  He  kept  his 
Sunday  in  our  warmer  air. 

An  elderly  woman  whom  I  knew  well,  a  notable  house- 
keeper, whose  work  was  her  life,  used  to  sit  by  her  west 
window  Sunday  afternoons,  trying  to  read  the  Bible, 
dozing  a  little,  and  rousing  up  to  look  out  and  measure 
the  height  of  the  decliningsun.  At  last  she  would  venture 
to  take  down  the  almanac  that  hung  beside  the  old  clock 
by  the  loop  of  twine  through  its  corner,  find  the  time  of 
sunset,  and  then  look  at  the  clock.  When  the  sun's  last 
rays  shone  she  would  give  a  stretch  and  a  sigh  of  relief, 
rise  up  from  her  chair,  go  straight  to  the  kitchen,  get  on 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  a^n 

the  big-  kettle,  and  have  her  washing  done  before  bedtime. 
To  put  on  that  kettle  five  minute?  before  sunset  would  have 
been  held  a  sin.  For  rest  and  thought  Sunday  is  good, 
but  all  days  are  sacred,  all  true  work  holy  in  a  high  sense. 

I  had  no  doctrinal  training,  and  cannot  remember  a 
time  when  I  was  ever  taught  to  believe  or  disbelieve  any 
creed  or  dogma.  I  heard  the  comments  in  the  family,  on 
preaching  and  church  doctrines,  which  were  usually  frank 
but  charitable,  but  was  left  to  frame  my  own  conclusions. 
I  was  never  taught  or  influenced  to  dislike  or  distrust 
people  for  heresy,  but  rather  to  respect  sincerity  in  all. 
My  father  read  a  short  prayer  each  morning,  and  reverence 
for  spiritual  ideas  was  a  part  of  my  life.  In  morals  and 
conduct  the  standard  was  high.  A  lie  was  terrible,  a 
knavish  trick  was  contemptible,  vulgarity  was  shameful. 
Clean  lips  and  a  pure  heart,  frank  and  upright  conduct, 
and  a  readiness  always  to  bear  my  share  of  life's  burthens, 
needed  little  enforcement  by  direct  precept  ;  they  were  in 
the  daily  acts  and  in  the  very  air  of  our  home.  To  fall 
below  their  high  requirements  was  to  forfeit  the  affec- 
tionate confidence  and  respect  of  those  most  near  and  dear. 

For  one  thing  I  hold  my  father  in  especial  reverence. 
In  my  youth  he  said  to  me :   "  My  son,  never  fear  to  hear 
both  sides  of  all  questions  fairly,  especially  in  religion. 
Be  careful  and  thoughtful.      Make  up  your  mind  without 
rash  haste,  but  with  a  clear  conscience.     When  you  have 
decided,   hold  to  your   convictions    firmly  and  honestly 
and  without  fear."     Many  times  have  I  blessed  his  mem- 
ory for  that  weighty  advice.     It  stands  by  me  like  a  rock. 
At  an  early  day  I  tested  it,  and  him.      I  began  to  doubt 
eternal   punishment,   read  the   Bible,  and   thought    it   all 
over,  and  scripture  and  justice  were  with  me.     I  went  to 
my  father   and  told   him  of  my   change   of  views.      He 
questioned  me  a   little,  and  then  said  :    "Very  well.      If 
it   seems    right,  hold  to    it  like  a  man  ;  only  be   sure   it 
seems  right,"     And  so,  at  twelve  years  old,  a  black  cloud 


48  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

rolled  away,  and  my  good  father's  word  was  like  a  strong 
wind  that  broke  it  in  pieces. 

A  few  years  after  I  was  in  Boston  and  saw  an  ad- 
vertisement of  a  meeting  of  infidels  in  Chapman  Hall, 
to  be  addressed  by  Robert  Owen  and  others.  An  avowed 
infidel  I  had  never  seen,  and  the  name  was  as  fearful  to  a 
New  England  boy  as  was  that  of  "  the  black  Douglas  "  to 
vScotch  babies,  whom  their  nurses  frightened  with  it  in 
bygone  days.  I  found  the  hall  in  a  labyrinth  of  crooked 
streets,  fit  place,  it  seemed,  for  such  a  meeting,  and  took 
a  safe  seat  near  the  door.  The  audience  was  a  surprise 
— intelligent  and  civil  people,  as  good  as  the  average. 
Several  persons  spoke,  expressing  opinions,  wise  or 
otherwise,  and,  at  last,  an  elderly  man — plain,  square- 
built,  with  large  head  and  kindly  shrewd  face — rose  to  his 
feet,  and  all  listened  with  great  attention.  He  stood  with 
folded  arms,  talking  rather  than  speech-making,  and  with 
beautiful  clearness  andsimplicity  spoke  of  the  excellence 
of  charity  and  active  benevolence.  Every  word  went 
home.  I  thought  to  myself,  Paul  wrote  well  of  charity 
in  his  Corinthian  Epistle,  but  this  infidel  Robert  Owen 
is  his  equal.  That  hour  did  not  change  my  religious 
belief,  but  it  cleared  away  the  mist  of  prejudice,  and  gave 
me  new  respect  for  courageous  frankness.  The  fresh 
thought  of  my  father's  good  advice  sent  me  there,  and  I 
made,  lasting  record  in  my  memory  of  another  obligation 
to  him. 

TEMPERANCE. 

I  well  remember  holding  my  father's  hand  when  a  child, 
as  we  walked  up  the  broad  street  of  Hatfield  to  the  meet- 
ing-house one  pleasant  summer  afternoon  more  than  sixty 
years  ago,  to  hear  a  temperance  lecture  by  Dr.  Jewett,  the 
first  ever  given  in  the  town.  It  made  a  strong  impression 
on  me,  because  some  of  the  neighbors  sneered  at  my 
father  for  going.  And  no  marvel,  for  drinking  distilled 
spirits  was  reputable,  and  the  most  pious  indulged  in  it 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  49 

without  rebuke.  The  old  minister  and  the  deacons  kept 
pace  with  the  wicked,  and  the  toper  quoted  scripture  and 
held  up  the  preacher  as  his  pattern  in  moderate  drinking. 

A  substantial  townsman  strongly  opposed  "  these  new 
temperance  notions,"  and  told  me  his  boyish  experience. 
The  minister  then  had  a  farm — the  parish  property,  which 
he  worked  and  used  after  the  old  fashion, — and  the  stout 
old  Squire  said  to  me  :  "When  I  was  a  boy  I  used  to 
work  for  the  minister  sometimes.  He  drove  things  sharp, 
but  he  used  me  well.  I  used  to  turn  his  fanning  mill  while 
he  shoveled  in  and  took  away  the  grain,  until  my  arms 
ached.  But  about  eleven  o'clock  he  would  set  down  his 
half-bushel  on  the  barn  floor  and  say  :  '  Come,  Elijah,  let 
us  go  into  the  house  and  take  something  to  comfort  our 
hearts.'  I  knew  what  that  meant,  and  was  glad  to  go. 
I  would  sit  down  in  the  kitchen  while  he  went  to  the  old 
cupboard  to  get  out  the  black  bottle  and  the  sugar,  and 
mixed  a  mug  of  toddy.  Then  he  would  say  :  *  Come,  my 
lad,  take  hold,'  and  that  was  good  stiff  toddy,  and  plenty 
of  it.  I  stick  to  the  old  way."  And  stick  he  did,  with  the 
story  of  the  ministers  toddy  as  a  stronghold. 

Cider  was  freely  used.  I  knew  farmers  who  drank  up 
forty  or  fifty  barrels  yearly — reputable  citizens,  not  at  all 
intemperate  !  It  was  hard  work  to  make  these  men  give 
it  up.  They  would  plead  against  the  great  waste  of  apples 
in  their  orchards — useless  save  for  cider-makine — and 
make  that  waste  an  argument  for  their  fiery  thirst,  growing 
as  crabbed  as  their  old  cider,  if  too  much  urged.  But  a 
temperance  lecturer  reached  their  hearts  by  turning  their 
stomachs  !  He  told  them  that  the  nine  bushels  of  poor 
apples — knotty  and  wormy — that  made  a  barrel  of  cider 
had  a  good  half-peck  of  worms  in  them,  which  were 
ground  and  pressed  in  the  pumice,  and  made  about  two 
quarts  of  worm-juice  to  give  their  cider  a  smart  tang ! 
There  was  no  getting  away  from  this,  and  it  made  more 
impression  than  all  other  arguments  and  appeals.     They 

4 


50  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

had  an  internal  sense  of  its  truth  when  they  heard  it ! 
Years  before  my  parents  had  taken  the  old-fashioned 
square  case  bottles  of  liquors — then  a  part  of  the  outfit  of 
every  hospitable  family — from  their  sideboard,  and  ended 
the  drinking-  custom  in  our  home.  When  we  moved  to 
Hatfield  it  vi'asthe  common  custom  to  offer  rum  to  neigh- 
bors when  they  called,  and  our  omission  was  a  great 
rudeness,  about  as  marked  as  not  to  invite  the  caller  to  sit 
down.  They  found  that  I  was  plied  with  rum  and  sugar 
in  this  way,  and  were  obliged  to  forbid  my  tasting  liquors 
or  cider,  which  was  thought  a  queer  prohibition.  But  a 
change  came.  The  young  minister  was  a  temperance 
man.  Habits  altered,  so  that  the  son  of  an  old  farmer  who 
had  used  up  a  barrel  of  cider  weekly,  told  me  he  did  not 
use  a  barrel  a  year,  with  a  farm  and  family  larger  than  his 
father's.  The  temperance  movement  has  wrought  this 
change.  Its  farther  progress  must  be  on  broader  ground 
and  with  more  knowledge.  The  idea  of  self-control,  ot 
the  supremacy  of  will  over  appetite  and  passion,  of  pure 
life  leading,  not  only  in  drinking  habits  but  in  the  use  of 
tobacco,  in  diet,  and  in  other  ways,  must  be  made  promi- 
nent. A  study  of  physiology  in  schools  and  homes,  in 
which  the  ruin  of  body  and  mind,  wrought  by  drinking 
habits  and  by  all  violations  of  physical  law,  shall  be  made 
plain,  must  be  a  great  help.  Parents  must  teach  their 
children  the  duty  of  making  the  pure  body  a  consecrated 
temple  for  the  spirit,  and  the  wrong  and  shameful  weak- 
ness and  degradation  of  being  controlled  by  perverted  and 
abnormal  appetite  and  passion  must  be  emphasized  with 
grave  decision.  Legislation  has  its  work,  but  in  all  and 
through  all,  must  be  the  guiding  and  inspiring  idea  and 
aim  of  a  race  well  born,  well  bred,  and  strong  in  self- 
government.  The  word  of  Buddha,  spoken  twenty-five 
hundred  years  ago,  is  worthy  of  all  acceptation  to-day  : 
"  If  one  man  conquer  a  thousand  times  ten  thousand  men 
in  battle,  and  another  man  conquer  himself,  the  last  is  the 
greatest  conqueror." 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


51 


CHAPTER  III. 

TRANSCENDENTALISM — BROOK    FARM,    HOPEDALE,   AND  NORTHAMP- 
TON ASSOCIATIONS. 

•'The  good  we  do  lives  after  us, 
The  evil  'tis  that  dies!" 

With  the  growth  of  transcendentalism  in  New  England 
(1836  to  1850)  came  efforts  for  associations  on  the  Fourier 
model,  or  in  societies  where  families  could  live  together, 
work  in  unity  as  stockholders,  do  away  the  jar  of  selfish 
competition,  help  to  truer  education,  and  cultivate  frater- 
nal relations.  The  transcendentalist  held  intuition  and 
reason  as  beyond  and  above  books  or  creeds  ;  truth  in  the 
soul  as  above  all  outward  authority  ;  institutions  as  helps 
and  servants,  to  be  maintained  for  good  order,  but  never 
submitted  to  when  they  would  compel  conscience  to 
yield  to  the  wicked  law.  James  Russell  Lowell  put  this 
in  glowing  words,  applied  to  the  evil  demands  of  the 
slave-power  : 

"  Man  is  more  than  Constitutions  ;  better  rot  beneath  the  sod, 
Than  be  true  to  Church  and  State  while  doubly  false  to  God." 

In  the  presence  of  their  ideas  sectarian  dogmatism  was 
impossible,  for  the  spirit  of  man — fluent,  penetrative  and 
ever  fresh  for  new  discovery — could  not  stop  in  the  nar- 
row limits  of  a  creed,  whose  claims,  indeed,  violated  the 
inner  sanctity,  and  so  were  sacrilegious.  Inspiration  was 
not  a  miraculous  gift  to  Jewish  prophet  or  early  apostle, 
but  a  divine  endowment  for  all  who  so  lived  as  to  win  it. 
Samuel  Johnson  put  this  in  noble  verse  : 

"Never  was  to  chosen  race 

That  unstinted  tide  confined  ; 
Thine  is  every  time  and  place, 

fountain  sweet  of  heart  and  mind  ! 


52  UFIVAKD  UTEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS, 

Secret  of  the  morning  stars, 

Motion  of  the  oldest  hours, 
Pledge  through  elemental  wars, 

Of  the  coming  spirit's  powers. 
Rolling  planet,  flaming  sun, 

Stand  in  nobler  man  complete. 
Prescient  laws  thine  errands  run. 

Frame  the  shrine  for  Godhead  meet. 

*  *  *  * 

In  the  touch  of  earth  it  thrilled  ; 

Down  fiom  mystic  skies  it  bui-ned  : 
Right  obeyed  and  passion  stilled, 

Its  eternal  goodness  earned. 

Breathing  in  the  thinker's  creed. 

Pulsing  in  the  hero's  blood, 
Nerving  simplest  thought  and  deed. 

Freshening  time  with  truth  and  good. 
*  *  *  * 

Life  of  ages,  richly  poured, 

Love  of  God  unspent  and  free; 
Flow  still  in  the  prophet's  word, 

And  the  people's  liberty." 

Emerson,  Margaret  Fuller,  and  a  gifted  company  o't 
co-workers,  were  the  heralds  of  these  views,  and  their 
winged  words  filled  the  upper  air  of  New  England 
thought,  and  went  far  over  mountain  range  and  sea. 
Theodore  Parker's  earnestness  was  lighted  up,  and  his 
strong  soul  made  cheerful  and  buoyant,  by  this  flood-tide 
of  spiritual  life.  Whittier's  verse  was  full  of  it,  for  it  was 
close  akin  and  of  like  origin  with  his  Quaker  views.  It 
spread  like  a  contagious  healthfulness,  uplifting  man  and 
woman,  enlarging  thought,  inspiring  effort,  and  melting 
away  the  icy  barriers  of  false  conservatism. 

HOPEDALE. 

A  new  enthusiasm  sprang  up  for  useful  and  homely 
work  done  in  fraternal  spirit  ;  for  a  truer  culture  and  a 
simpler  life  ;  for  a  social  state  with  more  harmony  and 
less  antagonism,  and  Associations  were  formed  to  realize 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


53 


these  ideals.  They  did  not  succeed,  yet  surely  they  did 
not  fail,  for  those  who  engaged  in  them  testify  to  enjoy- 
ment and  benefit  in  an  experience  that  has  helped  their 
later  life.  Hopedale  Community  in  Worcester  county  was 
a  stock  enterprise,  with  capital  and  labor  paid  at  adjusted 
rates.  A  hundred  people  or  more  were  there,  living  in 
families,  working  together,  with  Adin  Ballou — a  wise  and 
good  man,  widely  known  as  an  abolitionist,  a  Univer- 
salist  minister  and  a  Spiritualist — as  a  leading  officer  and 
religious  teacher,  and  E.  D.  Draper  and  others  leading  in 
business  and  education.  They  were  practical  workers  on 
the  farm  and  in  mechanic  shops,  bound  together  by 
kindred  religious  views,  and  by  interest  in  reforms — non- 
resistance,  anti-slavery,  temperance,  etc.  '^^  The  Practical 
Christian,"  their  neat  little  weekly  journal,  had  a  name 
telling  their  ideal.  They  kept  united  for  years,  and  won 
respect  by  their  integrity  and  fearless  fidelity.  It  was 
pleasant  to  enjoy  their  hospitality  and  listen  to  the  thought- 
ful discussions  in  their  meetings. 

BROOK    FARM. 

Brook  Farm,  at  West  Roxbury,  was  most  noted,  for  there 
were  George  Ripley,  Hawthorne,  Margaret  Fuller,  and 
others  as  gifted  but  less  known.  Theodore  Parker  used 
to  walk  over  to  the  farm  from  his  home.  Emerson  lighted 
up  the  old  farmhouse  with  his  serene  smile,  and  Boston's 
transcendental  thinkers  went  out  to  enjoy  the  rare  society. 
I  was  there  but  once,  and  my  distinct  memory  of  per- 
sons is  meeting  George  Ripley,  just  from  the  plough,  with 
cowhide  boots,  coarse  garments,  gold  glasses,  a  stout  body 
equal  to  farm-work,  and  a  noble  head — the  ploughman  and 
the  scholar  oddly  put  together.  This  incongruity  im- 
pressed me  everywhere.  Hoeing  corn  and  reading  Plato  ; 
cleaning  stables  and  writing  essays  ;  learned  talk  and 
calling  haw  and  gee  to  the  cattle  ;  milk-pans  and  artist's 
easels  ;  peeling  potatoes  and  conning  fine   philosophy  ; 


54  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

making  butter  and  poetry,  seemed  all  in  strangely  fantas- 
tic conjunction.  The  talk  and  study  were  admirable,  the 
homely  work  was  awkward,  for  they  were  versed  in  tlie 
one  and  not  in  the  other.  Its  life  was  not  long,  but  it 
inspired  many  noble  labors,  and  left  memories  full  of  light 
and  strength. 

NORTHAMPTON. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  Connecticut  river,  just  on  the 
verge  of  the  broad  meadows,  is  the  town  of  Northampton 
county  seat  of  good  old  Hampshire  county,  with  its  great 
elms,  winding  streets,  ample  old  mansions,  elegant  modern 
dwellings  and  neat  cottage  homes.  For  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  it  has  been  noted,  not  only  for  its  beauty,  but 
as  the  centre  of  a  good  deal  of  influence,  the  home  of 
men  of  mark  in  Church  and  State,  the  seat  of  intelligent 
conservatism  and  elegant  hospitality.  Jonathan  Edwards, 
the  great  preacher  and  thinker  of  his  day,  there  taught  the 
stern  doctrine  of  depravity  so  total  as  to  consign  even  the 
infant,  dying  "with  the  fragrance  of  heaven  in  its  baby 
breath,"  to  eternal  fire.  His  meeting-house  was  swept 
aside  to  make  room  for  an  imposing  wood  building,  a 
noble  specimen  of  old  church  architecture,  and  that  has 
given  way  to  a  great  stone  structure,  more  costly  but  less 
attractive.  The  creed  is  the  same  as  in  his  day,  but  the 
old  rigidity  has  weakened,  as  a  little  incident  will  show. 
A  few  years  ago  a  friend  of  mine  went  to  the  minister  of 
that  church,  who  was  chairman  of  the  town  library  com- 
mittee, and  asked  him  to  take  a  copy  of  my  "Chapters 
from  the  Bible  of  the  Ages  "  for  the  library.  Edwards 
would  have  looked  at  its  preface,  and  kept  it  for  his 
private  use  or  consigned  it  to  the  fire,  but  his  successor 
put  it  on  the  library  shelves  to  be  read  by  the  people. 

Ezekiel  Pomeroy,  a  staunch  Federalist  in  Jefferson's 
da)'',  was  told  the  State  might  change  its  politics.  "Well," 
said  he,  "I  don't  believe  it;    but  if  it  does,  this  will  be 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  55 

the  last  town  to  chang-e,  and  I  shall  be  the  last  man  in  it 
to  vote  anything  but  the  Federal  ticket."  Such  was  the 
town  in  those  days. 

Three  miles  west,  on  the  banks  of  the  swift  Licking- 
Water,  stood  a  three-story  brick  cotton  mill  not  used ;  a 
saw  mill,  a  small  sewing-silk  factory  and  a  few  dwellings. 
Along  the  stream  was  a  belt  of  valley  and  meadow,  on 
either  side  the  slope  of  wooded  hills  and  the  spread  of 
level  plains — a  right  pleasant  domain,  with  its  paths 
winding  amidst  great  pines  and  oaks  and  birch-trees,  and 
bordered  by  laurels  and  wild  flowers.  Here  the  North- 
ampton Association  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  members, 
found  an  abiding  place,  in  1842  I  think.  It  was  a  joint- 
stock  company,  factory  and  saw-mill  and  farm  were  car- 
ried on  under  a  board  of  managers. 

The  dwelling-houses  were  filled.  The  factory  was 
divided  into  rooms  with  board  partitions,  a  common 
dining-room  and  kitchen  fitted  up — all  of  the  plainest. 
Social  life  was  unconventional  and  free,  going  sometimes 
to  the  verge  of  propriety,  but  not  beyond.  I  did  not 
know,  in  a  year's  stay  of  a  single  grossly  depraved  or 
vicious  person,  and  there  were  no  tragic  outbreaks  of 
vice  or  crime.  I  never  but  once  knew  wine  or  liquor 
used  on  the  premises.  Vulgarity  was  less  common  than 
in  the  outer  world,  and  the  little  swearing  one  heard  was 
the  emphasized  indignation  against  meanness.  They 
were  thinking  people  who  had  gone  out  from  the  old 
ways.  They  came  with  an  inspiring  purpose — to  make 
education  and  industry  more  fraternal  in  their  methods 
than  seemed  possible  elsewhere.  They  sought,  too,  a 
larger  freedom  of  thought,  a  place  for  hearing  different 
views.  No  unity  of  opinion  was  asked  or  expected. 
There  were  anti-slavery  "  come-outers"from  the  churches, 
those  who  sympathized  with  the  liberal  religious  views, 
and  a  few  atheists  and  materialists. 

There  was  a  strange  charm  in  the  daily  contact  with 


56  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS, 

persons  with  whom  opinions  could  be  freely  exchanged, 
and  no  cold  wave  of  self-righteous  bigotry  be  felt.  This 
and  the  hope  for  fraternal  industry,  free  from  excessive 
toil,  made  them  cheerful  amidst  difficulty  and  discomfort. 
There  were  many  visitors — eminent  persons  in  thought 
and  literature,  intelligent  inquirers,  and  curious  spies 
among  these  strange  fanatics — and  meeting  them  was  a 
constant  source  of  interest  and  amusement.  One  day 
Rev.  Mr.  Woodbridge,  a  grave  D.  D.  from  Hadley,  came 
to  see  the  silk-worms  and  their  care-takers.  He  fell  in 
with  a  young  man  named  Porter,  and  asked  :  "What  do 
you  do  here  Sundays.?  "  The  answer  was  :  "We  rest  ; 
sometimes  do  some  pressing  work  ;  read,  think,  hold 
meetings,  visit,  amuse  ourselves  decently,  and  try  to  be- 
have as  well  as  we  do  Mondays."  The  preacher  asked  : 
"Have  you  no  minister.?"  and  the  reply  was  :  "No. 
We  all  speak,  if  we  wish  to,  women  and  all.  We  have 
no  objection  to  a  person  speaking  to  us.  You  can  come 
and  say  what  you  please.  We  shall  treat  you  well,  but 
we  may  question  you  and  differ  from  you."  This  was 
strange  to  a  man  whose  pulpit  words  had  hardly  been 
questioned  in  his  parish  for  forty  years,  and  he  said  : 
"Do  you  all  think  alike.?  How  do  you  get  along  when 
you  don't  agree  ? "  The  young  man  picked  up  a  stick  and 
rapped  repeatedly  on  the  same  spot  on  a  fence  rail  near 
them  ;  then  he  rapped  along  the  rail  so  that  the  sound 
varied,  and  said  :  "You  notice  when  I  rap  on  one  spot 
the  sound  is  monotonous  ;  when  I  move  my  stick  it  var- 
ies. Don't  you  like  the  variations  ?  You  are  not  foolish 
enough  to  quarrel  with  my  stick,  or  with  the  rail  because 
these  sounds  differ,  but  you  like  to  hear  them  and  to 
make  up  your  mind  which  is  best."  The  puzzled  preacher 
went  away,  and  doubtless  had  some  deep  studies  over 
that  new  lesson  in  free  inquiry. 

The    Sunday    meetings    were    always    provocative    of 
thought,  usually  interesting,  but  sometimes  crude.     They 


UF  WARD  S TEPS  OF  SE  VENTY  YEA RS.  5  7 

were  held  in  the  factory  dining-room,  or  on  the  hilltop 
under  the  shade  of  an  immense  pine.  Wm.  Lloyd  Gar- 
rison spent  some  weeks  there,  and  spoke  often.  The 
listening  group,  the  speaker  in  its  centre  by  the  great 
trunk  of  the  tree,  his  bold  yet  reverent  utterances,  the 
fragrance  of  the  pines,  the  mountains  far  down  the  valley 
to  the  south-east,  and  the  blue  sky  over  all,  seem  like 
something  of  yesterday.  N.  P.  Rogers,  editor  of  the 
Herald  of  Freedom,  used  to  come  from  his  New  Hamp- 
shire home  to  visit  us,  and  was  warmly  welcomed.  He 
spoke  with  charming  simplicity  and  clearness,  uttering 
the  most  startling  heresies  in  a  bland  way,  as  though 
they  must  be  as  delightful  to  all  others  as  to  himself. 
Occasionally  an  orthodox  clergyman  would  put  in  his 
word,  heard  respectfully,  but  criticised  frankly.  Women 
spoke  at  their  pleasure,  acceptably  and  well.  A  wide 
range  of  topics  came  up — practical,  reformatory  and 
religious. 

The  daily  work  was  done  under  direction  of  overseers, 
and  here  came  the  difficulty  of  keeping  all  up  to  the  mark 
without  the  spur  of  necessity.  A  woman  complained  of 
this  to  a  friend,  who  humorously  said:  "Well,  in  asso- 
ciation you  must  learn  to  work  for  lazy  folks  " — a  hard 
lesson  which  many  would  not  learn,  and  justice  did  not 
demand.  For  a  time  all  went  well,  but  business  troubles 
and  poor  management  abated  the  enthusiasm,  and  a  final 
breaking-up  came.  I  look  back  with  pleasure  to  that 
experience,  and  retain  a  strong  fraternal  feeling  toward 
most  who  shared  it.  I  was  not  there  as  a  member,  but 
to  take  lessons  of  some  noted  teachers.  It  was  a  study 
of  character,  as  well  as  of  books  ; — marked  individuality, 
moral  courage,  conscientious  devotion  to  right,  and 
warm  sympathies  abounded.  I  remember  a  wedding  at 
the  breakfast-table  of  the  factory  dining-hall,  with  no 
cake  or  cards,  but  brown  bread  and  wooden  chairs,  and 
a  Squire  to  make  all  legal.     The  ripe  wisdom  and  beau- 


58  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

tiful  tenderness  finely  set  forth  in  words,  or  in  delicate 
acts,  by  those  who  went  from  the  wedding  table  to  their 
work  in  mill  or  field  or  kitchen,  made  some  weddings 
where  silks  and  diamonds  and  shallow  compliments 
abound  poor  in  comparison. 

David  Ruggles,  manager  of  a  successful  water  cure,  sat 
at  that  table  ;  a  colored  man  who,  being  blind,  diagnosed 
diseased  conditions  by  some  fine  power  of  touch,  and 
won  great  regard  from  his  patients  and  friends.  I  owe  a 
great  deal  to  him. 

William  Adam  was  my  principal  teacher — a  native  of 
Edinburgh,  and  a  graduate  of  its  famed  Scotch  University. 
He  went  to  Calcutta  as  a  Baptist  missionary,  learned  the 
native  language  of  the  Hindoo,  and  the  old  Sanscrit  also, 
wrought  in  that  field  for  years,  and  then  became  editor  of 
the  Calcutta  Gazette,  the  journal  of  the  English  people  in 
that  far  land.  Coming  to  this  country  he  was  for  a  time 
Sanscrit  Professor  at  Harvard  University,  and  then  came 
to  the  Association  with  his  wife  and  family.  In  Hindo- 
stan  he  knew  Rammohun  Roy  well,  and  helped  him 
select  from  the  New  Testament  the  moral  precepts  of 
Jesus,  to  be  translated  for  his  countrymen.  This  eminent 
Hindoo,  the  founder  of  the  Brahmo  Somaj,  was  a  Brah- 
min of  high  rank,  learned  and  accomplished.  He  under- 
stood Greek  and  Hebrew,  but  wanted  Mr.  Adam's  aid  to 
make  all  surely  correct.  He  was  an  inquirer  for  truth,  an 
admirer  of  the  New  Testament  morals  and  of  the  char- 
acter of  Christ,  but  not  a  believer  in  Christianity  as  taught 
by  the  missionaries.  His  Mohammedan  lineage  on  the 
mother's  side  made  him  a  Unitarian,  a  believer  in  one 
God,  as  are  all  Mohammedans,  and  he  was  in  unity  with 
Theodore  Parker  in  many  respects.  Mr.  Adam  noticed 
that  he  did  not  translate  any  of  the  New  Testament  mir- 
acles and  asked  why.  The  answer  was  :  "That  would 
throw  discredit  on  the  whole  work,  for  the  Hindoo  mir- 
acles  are  so  much  greater  than   these  that  our   people 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  59 

would  say  that  a  religion  with  only  such  poor  wonders  to 
support  it  must  be  far  below  theirs  and  not  worth  atten- 
tion. These  precepts  of  Jesus  must  reach  the  Hindoos 
by  their  intrinsic  merits." 

He  afterwards  visited  England  and  was  highly  esteemed 
there,  his  presence  impressing  many  with  a  higher  sense 
of  the  courtly  grace  and  wide  learning  of  the  upper-class 
Hindoos.  He  passed  away  years  ago,  greatly  honored 
and  revered. 

Asking  Mr.  Adam  about  the  Juggernaut  festivals,  he 
told  me  he  had  attended  them  several  times  ;  that  by  some 
accident  pilgrims  might  be  crushed  beneath  the  wheels  of 
the  great  idol-car  as  it  was  drawn  by  ropes  in  many 
hands,  but  no  pilgrim  ever  threw  himself  under  the  car 
to  be  crushed.  Only  flowers  and  fruits  were  offered  to 
Tueeernaut.  Other  festivals  had  cruel  rites,  but  this 
never,  for  this  was  one  of  the  kindly  gods.  So  the  old 
story  in  our  Missionafy  Herald  falls  to  the  ground,  for 
other  testimony  confirms  that  of  Mr.  Adam.  Doubtless 
that  story  is  honestly  repeated  and  believed,  but  it  started 
from  the  soul  of  some  bigot. 

SAMUEL  L.   HILL. 

*'  Than  tyrant's  law,  or  bigot's  ban, 
More  mighty  is  your  simplest  word, 
The  free  heart  of  an  honest  man. 
Than  crosier  or  the  sword." 

When  the  Association  broke  up,  its  financial  affairs 
were  in  bad  condition.  One  of  its  leading  members, 
Samuel  L.  Hill,  felt  morally  bound  to  see  its  debts  paid. 
He  was  not  bound  legally,  but  his  name  had  helped  its 
credit,  and  he  felt  that  he  must  make  all  good.  To  the 
creditors  he  said  :  "Give  me  time,  and  I  will  pay  you 
all ;  if  you  disturb  me  I  cannot  do  it."  In  ten  years  every 
dollar  was  paid,  thousands  more  than  he  was  worth  on 
the  start.      He  was  a  simple  and  unpretending  man,  plain 


6o  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

in  his  ways,  of  remarkable  sagacity  and  tireless  industry, 
his  integrity  and  sincerity  the  highest,  his  moral  courage 
unsurpassed,  his  kindness  and  wise  benevolence  beauti- 
ful, his  sound  judgment  remarkable.  He  became  the 
leading  owner  and  manager  of  the  Nonotuck  Sewing  Silk 
Company,  enlarged  their  works,  filled  with  finest  mechan- 
ism, and  employing  over  four  hundred  persons.  All  that 
he  took  part  in  must  be  honest  and  thorough.  There  was 
no  sham  in  him,  and  there  should  be  none  in  his  mills. 
His  word  was  his  bond,  his  credit  undoubted,  his  promise 
unfailing. 

As  the  village  grew  the  schoolhouse  was  too  small. 
He  said  to  the  town  committee  :  "Give  me  the  old  house, 
and  1  will  build  a  better  one."  In  a  year  his  building 
was  completed,  at  a  cost  of  $35,000.  The  upper  story  of 
a  wing  was  a  neat  hall,  for  the  use  of  the  Free  Congrega- 
tional Society,  and  a  library  and  reading-room  free  to  the 
factory  workers  and  others,  and  he  paid  largely  to  sustain 
both.  At  a  later  time  when  all  the  schoolhouse  was 
wanted,  he  paid  over  |20,ooo  toward  building  Cosmian 
Hall  for  the  Society,  and  helped  to  sustain  this  unsectarian 
effort  for  the  presentation  of  different  opinions  in  religion, 
the  advocacy  of  practical  reforms  by  representative  men 
and  women,  and  the  moral  instruction  and  innocent 
recreation  of  the  young.  He  also  paid  $4,000  toward  a 
kindergarten  school,  open  to  all  children.  Other  men 
have  paid  money  freely  for  public  purposes,  but  few  have 
been  so  unwearied  as  he  was  in  well-doing — not  known 
of  men — or  so  fatherly  in  their  constant  care  for  others. 
If  sickness  or  misfortune  came  to  any,  his  help  lighted 
their  path  as  quietly  and  cheerily  as  the  sunshine.  If 
weakness  or  vice  brought  the  trial,  his  warning  was  as 
faithful  as  it  was  kind  ;  his  sage  suggestion  was  help  to  a 
better  life,  and  not  self-righteous  rebuke.  He  helped  the 
deserving  to  help  themselves,  and  opened  ways  upward 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  6 1 

for  the  faithful  and  capable,  instead  of  usin^  them,  and 
then  pushing  them  down  as  selfish  men  often  do. 

He  was  singularly  thoughtful  of  all  that  might  help  the 
comfort  or  culture  of  the  people.  The  factory  girl  had 
from  him  the  same  quiet  respect  any  lady  of  the  land 
would  have  ;  boarding  houses  were  planned  for  comfort 
and  good  behavior;  the  atmosphere  was  everywhere 
permeated  by  a  fatherly  influence,  a  sense  of  protecting 
kindness.  In  his  good  efforts  he  had  the  ready  help  of 
co-workers  of  like  spirit,  his  son  Arthur,  A.  T.  Lily,  man- 
ager in  the  mill,  and  others.  The  skilled  labor  needed 
called  for  good  wages,  and  this  helped  to  build  up  a  taste- 
ful village  of  some  2,500  people,  intelligent  and  well 
behaved  beyond  the  average. 

A  few  years  ago  a  Christmas  party  was  made  for  him 
in  the  Hall.  Not  far  below  the  village  was  a  large  cotton 
mill,  owned  by  another  company  on  the  river,  and  many 
Irish  Catholics  were  employed  there  ;  but  they  had  felt  a 
kindly  wisdom  that  knew  no  limits  of  creed,  and  they 
came  to  meet  Protestants  and  heretics  in  all  good  will. 
They  asked  Father  Hill  to  go  to  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  and 
there  was  a  nice  sleigh,  the  gift  of  warm  and  honest 
hearts. 

He  was  so  quiet  and  unpretending  as  not  to  be  appre- 
ciated by  strangers,  but  his  goodness  and  greatness  grew 
with  intimacy.  In  the  "martyr  days"  of  early  anti- 
slavery,  he  was  an  abolitionist,  with  fidelity  to  conscience 
as  firm  as  that  of  any  Puritan.  Thought  of  reputation  or 
business  prospects  never  turned  his  course  or  sealed  his 
lips,  and  by  his  noble  integrity  he  won  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  all ;  his  success  a  lesson  to  all  time-servers 
and  moral  cowards,  his  bravely  persistent  industry  and 
couraee  a  lesson  to  all  weak  and  aimless  souls.  He  was 
somewhat  above  middle-height,  with  a  serviceable  body 
built  for  useful  work,  a  high  and  noble  head,  a  serious 
aspect,   plain  and  kindly  manners,   and  the  quiet  ways 


62  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

that  we  often  see  in  men  of  large  power.  Hours  and  days 
at  his  hospitable  home,  quiet  talks  in  his  last  years  when 
illness  kept  him  from  active  work,  are  well  remembered. 

MRS.    STETSON SELF-CONCEIT  ABATED. 

One  of  the  best  things  for  a  young  man  sometimes  is 
to  tind  out  how  little  he  knows.  It  takes  down  his  self- 
conceit  and  settles  him  into  deeper  thinking.  At  the 
Association  I  had  that  lesson.  I  was  at  the  age  when  self- 
esteem  is  active,  and  was  looking  forward  to  the  study 
of  theology.  Of  course  I  felt  wise !  A  Massachusetts 
youth  who  was  a  Whig,  a  Unitarian,  and  a  prospective 
clergyman,  would  naturally  have  a  fair  share  of  compla- 
cent self-satisfaction.  I  had  a  room  in  a  house  partly 
occupied  by  Mr.  Stetson  and  his  family,  from  Brook- 
lyn, Ct.  Mrs.  Stetson  was  a  superior  woman,  a  personal 
friend  of  Samuel  J.  May,  and  other  early  anti-slavery 
leaders.  One  evening  in  their  room  the  talk  turned  on 
anti-slavery,  and  she  quoted  some  Bible  texts  favoring 
freedom.  Gravely  and  with  oracular  aspect  I  spoke  of 
Paul  and  Onesimus,  and  of  the  apostle  sending  the  slave 
back  to  his  master.  I  can  see  yet  the  shade  of  amused 
pity  that  spread  over  her  fine  face  as  she  heard  me  through. 
Then  she  took  up  the  matter,  and  expounded  the  scrip- 
ture in  the  light  of  liberty.  As  she  expounded  I  became 
utterly  confounded, — perplexed  and  ashamed  at  my  want 
of  knowledge  and  moral  insight.  That  I,  one  of  the  lords 
of  creation,  should  be  made  to  feel  so  small  by  a  woman  ! 
I,  who  hoped  some  day,  like  Scott's  Dominie  Sampson, 
"  to  wag  my  pow  in  the  pulpit,"  should  be  so  humiliated 
by  this  woman,  unlearned,  as  I  supposed,  in  clerical  lore ! 
She  was  kind,  but  that  made  it  all  the  worse.  My  conceit 
was  all  gone,  and  there  really  seemed  nothing  left  of  n\e. 
I  could  not  sleep  half  the  night,  thinking  of  my  confusion 
and  chagrin,  but  at  last  it  dawned  on  me  that  it  was  all 
right,  and  the  next   day  I  went  and  heartily  thanked  her 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  63 

for  her  words.  We  became  cordial  friends  and,  havinj^ 
come  into  a  teachable  mood,  I  learned  a  great  deal  more 
from  her. 

WILLIAM    ELLERY    CHANNING. 

"Thou  art  not  idle;  in  thy  higher  sphere, 
Thy  spirit  bends  itself  to  loving  tasks; 
And  strength  to  perfect  what  is  dreamed  of  here, 
Is  all  the  crown  and  glory  that  it  asks," 

J.  R.  Lowell. 

In  1838,  being  in  Boston  over  Sunday,  a  merchant 
with  whom  I  dealt  asked  me  to  sit  in  his  pew  in  the 
Federal  Street  Church,  and  hear  Channing.  The  simple 
taste  of  the  old  meeting-house,  and  the  fine  aspect  of  a 
congregation  of  such  people  as  would  be  attracted  to  such 
a  man  interested  me.  Soon  the  minister  came— a  man  of 
middle  stature  and  delicate  form,  drawing  a  little  on  one's 
sympathy  by  his  physical  feebleness  before  he  spoke,  but 
lifting  all  inio  a  region  of  higher  thought  when  he  was 
heard.  At  first  his  utterance  was  somewhat  faint  and 
low,  but  soon  that  sweet,  clear  voice  reached  all  in  full 
distinctness,  its  fine  cadences  rising  to  earnest  warning 
and  entreaty,  or  falling  to  tones  of  tender  sympathy,  as 
naturally  as  the  ^Eolian  harp  varies  with  the  breeze.  He 
seemed  inspired  by  an  exalted  enthusiasm,  looking 
toward  the  higher  and  more  perfect  life  of  which  he  held 
men  capable,  and  calling  others  up  to  the  clear  height  of 
his  own  thought.  Men  and  women  heard  him  as  though 
some  angel  from  the  upper  heaven  spoke,  and  the  hour  in 
that  church  was  sacred. 

Each  fit  word  dropped  into  its  place  in  the  sentence 
naturally,  each  period  was  rounded  out  in  full  and  fair 
perfection.  The  inspiration  of  his  ideas  seemed  to 
set  each  word  and  phrase  in  harmony,  as  that  of  the 
musical  composer  sets  note  and  cleft  and  bar  in  the  scale 
to  make  a  perfect  and  sustained  strain  of  melody. 

It  was  a  privilege  to  see  and  hear  him.     I  could  know 


64  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

better  how  his  words  had  such  uplifting  power,  and  how 
it  was  that  those  who  knew  him  best  loved  and  rever- 
enced him  most.  The  great  central  idea  and  glowing 
inspiration  of  his  life  was  the  capacity  of  man  for  eternal 
culture  and  spiritual  growth,  and  the  divine  goodness 
that  has  made  the  eternal  life,  here  and  hereafter,  a  tit 
field  for  that  culture.  In  the  day  when  New  England, 
weary  of  the  grim  despair  of  total  depravity,  needed  to 
hear  a  fresh  and  living  word,  he  spoke.  He  was  the 
Apostle  to  teach  and  emphasize  the  dignity  of  human 
nature,  the  capacity  of  man  for  spiritual  culture,  the  beauty 
of  that  holiness  of  which  we  are  capable,  and  the 
wretchedness  of  that  vice  and  weakness  to  which  so 
many  descend. 

JOHN    PIERPONT. 

"  Not  there !    Where  then  is  he  ? 
The  form  I  used  to  see 
Was  but  the  raiment  that  he  us3d  to  wear. 
The  grave  that  now  doth  press, 
Upon  that  cast-off  dress, 

Is  but   his  wardrobe  locked — he  is  not  there." 

Pierpont. 

I  first  met  Pierpont  at  his  home  in  West  Medford,  Mass., 
May  23d,  1 86 1.  He  told  me  how  a  reaction  in  his  favor 
had  taken  place,  after  his  long  and  brave  contest  with  the 
rum-seUing  pew-holders  of  Hollis  Street  Church,  and  how 
his  Lyceum  lectures  and  poems  had  grown  in  favor,  but 
when  he  became  a  Spiritualist  the  calls  for  lectures  and 
poems  grew  less,  and  his  Unitarian  brethren,  a  majority 
of  them,  cool  toward  him.  Of  all  this  he  made  no  com- 
plaint, but  spoke  of  it  with  cheerful  humor,  yet  it  could 
not  but  affect  him.  This  message  he  gave  me,  received 
in  New  York  in  i860,  from  Mrs.  Hoy,  a  stranger  : 

"My  Brother  :  The  M'orld  is  full  of  signs  and  tests  of 
spirit  power,  and  we  will  not  allow  you  to  question  that 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  65 

which  meets  your  outer  and  inner  vision  at  every  turn, 
for  you  know  the  flower-lip  speaks  it,  and  the  leaf-tongue 
proclaims  it.  I  have  passed  away,  yet  the  grave  does 
not  contine  me.  I  am  where  I  see  more  to  do,  and 
under  more  favorable  circumstances,  than  when  my  soul 
was  obliged  to  carry  the  burden  of  my  body.  Not  that 
1  despise  the  tenement,  God  forbid  !  I  parted  with  it  as 
well-tried  friends  bid  each  other  a  final  adieu.  I  am  carry- 
ing out  my  intentions,  and  urging  with  good  faith  that 
freedom  in  Christ,  which  shall  render  man  the  worthy 
companion  of  the  angels.  Here  I  see  no  eye  watching 
with  distrust  or  envy  ;  no  cold  reserve  and  formalities 
which  chill  the  heart's  warm  outgushings.  .  .  .but,  by  the 
light  which  surrounds  all  here,  I  see  man  in  all  his  noble- 
ness and  simplicity.  Would  that  more  could  come  into 
possession  of  this  spiritual  sight,  which  must  inevitably 
raise  the  fallen — while  as  a  self-adjusting  principle,  it 
must  make  man  his  own  judge  and  saviour — God  being 
within.  It  is  not  new,  but  the  old,  revived  and  relieved 
of  all  superfluous  garniture  which  education  has  heaped 
upon  it.  .  .  .  With  kindness  ever,  T.  P." 

He  thought  the  signature  a  mistake,  not  knowing  who 
it  meant,  when  the  medium  again  decidedly  signed  "T. 
P.,"  and  further  thought  led  him  to  see  it  was  Theodore 
Parker,  from  whom  he  had  messages  at  other  times  and 
places. 

Years  after,   wife   and   myself  boarded   on    the   same 

street,  (4  1-2  Street,  N.  W. ,)  and  near  him,  in  Washington 

— he  then   holding  an   important  place  in  the  Treasury 

Department,    and  doing  full   daily  work,   although   over 

eighty  years  of  age.     We  often  called  on  him  about  five 

o'clock,  or  just  after  his  dinner  hour  when,  refreshed  by  a 

short   sleep  and  by  his   meal,  he  enjoyed  a  visit.     One 

warm  afternoon  we  went  to  the  door  of  his   room  and 

found  all  still.     Looking  in  through  the  half-open   door 

5 


66  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

we  saw  him  asleep  on  the  sofa.  Wife  slipped  in,  laid  a 
fresh  rose  on  his  breast,  and  we  came  away.  Next  day 
we  met  him  on  the  avenue  ;  he  stopped  us,  laid  his  hands 
on  her  shoulders,  and  said  :  "I've  caught  the  sly  rogue 
that  slipped  into  my  room  when  I  slept  yesterday,  and 
left  a  rose  for  me," — all  this  with  the  grace  and  humor  of 
youth.  Fifty  years  before  he  might  have  been  a  hand- 
some young  man,  but  surely  he  was  handsome  as  we 
knew  him.  Tall,  erect,  his  hair  and  beard  fine  and 
silvery,  the  fresh  glow  of  health  and  temperate  purity 
still  giving  ruddy  hue  to  his  cheeks,  strangers  in  the 
streets  stopped  to  admire  him.  In  his  delightful  con- 
versation the  culture  of  a  scholar  and  poet,  the  brilliancy 
of  a  young  heart,  the  courage  of  a  reformer,  the  wisdom 
of  large  experience,  and  the  insight  of  a  spiritual  thinker, 
gave  varied  charm  and  instruction.  One  evening  I  heard 
him  recite  a  poem  of  his   own  at  a  temperance  meeting. 

He  came  before  the  audience  with  a  weary  step,  and 
began  his  poem  in  a  broken  and  feeble  voice,  but  a  change 
soon  came,  and  before  he  was  half  through  his  form 
dilated,  his  eyes  flashed,  his  voice  was  deep  and  full,  and 
the  burden  of  a  half  century  seemed  rolled  away,  leaving 
him  young  and  glorying  in  his  strength.  The  conquer- 
ing spirit  had  lent  the  body,  for  the  hour,  something  of 
its  own  immortal  youth,  so  that  all  were  spell-bound  in 
surprised  delight. 

We  saw  him  last  one  lovely  summer  morning  at  the 
corner  of  our  street,  opposite  the  City  Hall,  and  the  statue 
of  Lincoln,  waiting  for  the  cars  to  go  to  the  Treasury 
building.  He  spoke  cheerily  of  the  beauty  of  the  day  ; 
said  he  was  going  to  start  for  New  England  in  the  after- 
noon, and  stepped  on  to  the  car  as  it  came  near,  waving 
his  hand  and  smiling  his  good-bye.  In  a  few  days  he 
was  acting  as  President  of  a  meeting  of  Spiritualists  at 
Providence,  and  just  afterward  passed  serenely  to  that 
higher  life  for  which  he  was  ripe  and  fully  ready. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  67 

THEODORE    PARKER. 

THE    PREACHER    OF   TRANSCENDENTALISM. 

«'No  boundless  solitude  of  space, 

Shall  fill  man's  conscious  soul  with  awe, 
But  everywhere  his  eye  shall  trace, 
The  beauty  of  eternal  law. 
****** 
And  he,  who  through  the  lapse  of  years. 

With  aching  heart  and  weary  feet. 
Had  sought,  from  gloomy  doubts  and  fears, 

A  refuge  and  a  safe  retreat — 
Shall  find  at  last  an  inner  shrine. 
Secure  from  superstition's  ban, 
Where  he  shall  learn  the  truth  divine, 
That  God  dwells  evermore  in  man." 

Elizabeth  Doten. 

Theodore  Parker's  earnestness  and  reverent  spirit  made 
all  ordinary  preaching  poor.  He  emphasized  the  tran- 
scendent faculties  of  the  soul,  as  above  book  or  dogma, 
and  was  a  moral  hero. 

This  heretic  and  iconoclast  was  one  of  the  most  deeply- 
religious  men  in  any  New  England  pulpit.  He  rebuked 
cant,  that  sincerity  might  gain  ground ;  he  broke  beloved 
idols  in  pieces,  yet 

"  '  Twas  but  the  ruin  of  the  bad — 

The  wasting  of  the  wrong  and  ill  ; 
Whate'er  of  good  the  old  time  had, 
Was  living  still." 

None  rejoiced  in  the  life  of  the  old-time  good  more 
than  he,  and  few  helped  it  so  much — albeit  he  was  held 
as  a  reckless  destroyer. 

His  natural  manner  in  preaching — that  of  a  man  ad- 
dressing his  fellow-men  without  any  affectation  in  voice 
or  style — impressed  me  favorably.  He  had  the  dignity 
and  feeling  fitting  high  themes  discussed,  but  the  "holy 
tone  "  of  the  parish  priest  was  not  heard — a  happy  relief  ! 
The  clergy  ought  to  bless  his  memory  for  his  great  help 
in  making  pulpit  ways  natural.     His  frank  and  courageous 


68  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

speech,  not  only  of  Pharisees  in  Jerusalem  but  in  Boston, 
of  prevalent  and  popular  wrongs  in  Babylon  and  New 
York,  was  novel  and  refreshing.  Again  the  clergy  should 
bless  his  memory  for  helping  to  emancipate  the  pulpit, 
making  it  a  place  for  voices  not  echoes.  His  theology 
too  had  a  fresh  vitality  ;  he  told  of  a  living  and  present 
word  of  God.  Dean  Stanley  truly  said  of  him  :  "No  man 
in  this  century  made  so  deep  a  mark  on  our  religious 
thought."  Surely  no  man  made  so  strong  and  lasting 
impression  on  his  hearers.  His  courage  and  sense  of 
duty  always  led  him  to  a  sincere  speaking  out  of  his  con- 
victions, at  whatever  cost.  This  sincerity  and  iidelity 
gave  him  a  power  impossible  without  them,  and  made 
him  the  great  preacher  of  the  century. 

From  2,500  to  4,000  people  were  his  deeply  interested 
hearers  each  Sunday  in  ]\Iusic  Hall  for  ten  years. 

He  admitted  the  worth  of  Spiritualism  as  an  agent  in 
emancipating  the  human  mind.  Frothingham  says  : 
"  He  blamed  the  scientific  men,  Agassiz  among  them,  for 
their  unfair  methods  of  investigating  the  phenomena  ; 
rebuked  the  prigs  who  turned  up  their  noses  at  the  idea 
of  investigating  the  subject  at  all,  and  admitted  that  Spirit- 
ualism knocks  the  nonsense  of  popular  theology  to  pieces, 
and  leads  cold,  hard  materialistic  men  to  a  recognition  of 
what  is  really  spiritual  in  their  nature." 

This  I  knew  from  conversation  with  him  on  this  sub- 
ject. 

I  have  heard  him  speak  in  anti-slavery  and  woman- 
suffrage  meetings — every  word  a  blow,  and  the  mark 
never  missed. 

Visiting  him  at  his  home  in  Boston,  I  found  this  heroic 
soul  tender  as  well  as  brave.  His  domestic  life  showed 
that  side  of  his  character  which  was  notable  too  in  his 
public  efforts  in  an  undertone  of  sorrowing  pity  toward 
those  he  rebuked,  and  in  the  emotional  parts  of  his  relig- 
ious discourses. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  69 

A  devoted  and  true  husband,  a  lover  of  the  society  of 
the  best  women,  greatly  fond  of  children,  of  whom  he 
once  said  in  a  prayer  that  "the  fragrance  of  heaven  was 
in  their  baby-breath,"  his  wealth  of  affection  equalled  his 
wealth  of  intellect. 

Several  times  I  spent  an  hour  in  his  study.      He  was 
simple  and  sincere,  so  eager  to  learn  that  you  almost  for- 
got how  much  he  knew.     The  plain  ways  of  his  early  life 
on  the  farm  never  left  him.     That  room  on  the  fourth  floor 
—the  whole  floor  with  its  outlook  over  the  city  from  front 
and  rear  windows— was  filled  with  books  ;  plain  shelves 
on  the  wails— and  in  every  corner  or  nook  by  door  or 
window  ;  full  shelves  in  racks  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  : 
piles  on  the  floor,   shelves    along  the    stairways  and  in 
lower  halls  and  closets,  an  overflow  and  inundation  every- 
where.    To  me  the  most  interesting  of  all  was  a  little 
bureau — very  plain  and  small — such  as  a  boy  might  have 
by  the  head  of  his  bed  in  his  little  chamber  in  an  old  farm 
l^ouse — which  stood  beneath  a  window  with  an  old  Latin 
Dictionary  on  it,  and  the  name,   "  Theodore  Parker,  ejus 
liber"  in  a  boys  hand  on  its  blank  leaf.     That  book  he 
bought  himself,  and  paid  for  it  by  selling  huckleberries 
picked  with  his  own  hands  on  his  fathers  farm,  which  he 
carried  in  his  little  tin  pail  on  foot  five  miles  to  Lexington 
and  sold  for  four  cents  a  quart  until  he  had  laid  away  in 
that  bureau  drawer  four  dollars  to  pay  for  that  dictionar}'. 
No  wonder  such  a  boy,  grown  to  manhood,  conquered 
dithculties  and  made  that  first  book  the  seed-corn  from 
which  grew  his  great  library  ;  and  did  also  much  other 
work,  books  being  only  his  tools.     At  the  opposite  end  of 
the  room  was  his  desk,  with  its  busts  and  statuettes  of 
Jesus,  Socrates  and  Spartacus,  its  flowers  for  fresh  orna- 
ment, and  its  walls  of  books  all  about.     The  same  stout 
and  tender  heart  that  led  the  boy  with  that  litde  bureau 
by  his  bedside,  to  pick  berries,  and  help  his  dear  mother 
in  her  housework  was  in  the  man  who  wrought  at  that 


yo  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

desk.  He  kept,  too,  the  clean  ways  of  his  childhood, 
and  we  can  say  of  him,  as  is  said  of  the  good  knight,  Sir 
Galahad  in  the  romance  of  King  Arthur  : 

"  His  strength  was  as  the  strength  of  ten, 
Because  his  heart  was  pure." 

THOMAS  MCCLINTOCK. 

Going  one  Sunday  to  Junius  Friends,  meeting-house, 
near  Waterloo,  New  York,  I  heard  Thomas  McClintock 
speak.  He  was  a  tall  and  slender  man,  with  dark  hair 
and  eyes,  linely  expressive  features,  and  an  air  of  refined 
thought  and  benignant  kindness.  His  ideas  and  state- 
ments impressed  me  as  greatly  like  those  of  Theodore 
Parker,  although  I  learned  he  had  never  read  the  works 
of  that  great  preacher.  Plainly  enough  he  had  reached 
substantially  the  same  conclusions,  at  quite  as  early  a 
day.  I  found  he  was  one  of  the  foremost  among  Hick- 
site  Friends  who  publicly  advocated  and  emphasized 
these  views,  and  he  met  with  an  opposition  from  the 
more  conservative  like  that  which  Parker  encountered 
from  the  same  class  among  the  Unitarians.  It  was  very 
interesting  to  note  the  growth  and  expression  of  like 
opinions  in  distant  places  and  among  different  classes. 

Certain  eras  seem  to  be  ripening  seasons  for  new 
spiritual  harvests.  Thoughts  pulse  through  the  air  with 
fresh  intensity  foreshadowing  beneficent  changes,  even  as 
the  perfume  of  the  blossom  in  spring  prophesies  the 
autumn's  fruitage. 

The  Boston  preacher  in  the  Melodeon  and  the  Quaker 
in  that  plain  meeting-house  in  Central  New  York,  un- 
known to  each  other,  had  wrought  out  the  same  problems, 
and  were  possessed  by  the  same  ideas.  Thomas 
McClintock  was  a  druggist  and  bookseller,  noted  for  the 
perfectness  of  his  chemical  preparations,  and  for  his 
strict  integrity.  Certain  of  his  townsfolk  once  came  to 
expostulate  with  him  ;  not  probably  unfriendly  in  feeling, 


UP  WA  RD  S  TEPS  OF  SE  VENTY  YEA  RS.  7 1 

they  had  strong  dislike  of  his  heresy  in  theology,  and  of 
his  anti-slavery  position,  and  wished  he  might  be  silent 
on  those  topics.  So  they  said,  in  substance  :  "We  come 
to  you  as  friends,  to  warn  you  that  your  bold  preaching 
and  your  open  association  with  these  heretics  and  fana- 
tics will  greatly  hurt  your  business.  We  have  no  objection 
to  your  having  what  opinions  you  please,  but  your 
course  is  very  distasteful  to  many  people,  and  will  injure 
you."  He  replied  :  "I  thank  you  for  coming,  but  I  was 
trained  up  to  obey  the  monitions  of  the  spirit,  and  be  true 
to  my  best  light.  In  private  and  in  public  I  have  always 
expressed  my  opinions  faithfully,  without  aiming  to  give 
undue  offence,  yet  without  fear  of  man,  and  to  do  other- 
wise would  be  sinful  and  cowardly.  I  will  bear  your 
words  in  mind,  but  I  must  speak  the  truth,  and  abide  the 
consequences." 

They  saw  nothing  could  be  done,  and  left.  He  went 
on,  treating  all  with  courteous  kindness,  but  not  swerving 
from  his  straight  path  of  duty.  For  a  time  his  business 
did  suffer,  and  he  saw  why  and  how,  but  it  made  no  dif- 
ference, and  then  the  tide  turned,  and  it  more  than  came 
back  ;  prejudice  yielded  to  respect,  and  that  ripened  into 
affection.  In  a  few  years  he  planned  to  leave  and  go 
to  his  native  Pennsylvania  with  a  son  in  business.  Then 
the  town's  people  came  to  him,  of  all  sects  and  parties, 
urged  him  to  stay,  and  offered  substantial  aid  to  enlarge 
his  business.  He  thanked  them,  but  felt  obliged  to  leave, 
and  did  so,  amidst  regrets  well-nigh  universal.  Thus 
upright  courage  wins  at  last. 

His  home-life  was  delightful — a  wife  of  fine  culture  and 
character,  graceful  and  dutiful  daughters,  and  their  sur- 
roundings in  that  pure  and  quiet  taste  which  gives  a  charm 
to  the  houses  of  the  best  Quakers. 


72  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ANTI-SLAVERY — WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 

"Champion  of  those  who  groan  beneath 

Oppression's  iron  hand  ; 

In  view  of  penury,  hate,  and  death, 

I  see  them  fearless  stand." 

Whittier. 

While  at  the  Northampton  Association  I  first  knew 
William  "Lloyd  Garrison,  and  began  to  understand  the 
anti-slavery  movement.  There  was  to  be  a  convention 
in  the  old  church  at  Northampton,  and  notices  were  sent 
to  the  towns  near,  to  be  read  in  the  pulpits.  This  was 
a  good  way  to  test  the  clergy.  The  abolitionists  said 
their  effort  was  religious  in  the  deepest  sense,  their  aim 
"to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captive,"  and  that  the 
church  and  clergy  were  in  duty  bound  to  help.  If  a 
clergyman  read  a  notice  from  his  pulpit  it  showed  his 
sympathy  ;  if  not,  he  was  held  as  blind  or  time-serving, 
practically  an  ally  of  slavery.  They  said  to  the  ministers  : 
"  If  our  way  does  not  suit  you,  show  us  a  better,  but  do 
something.     Don't  be  like  dumb  dogs." 

In  this  instance  a  notice  was  sent  to  Hatfield,  and  I 
was  at  home  with  my  father  the  Sunday  it  was  read  in 
the  pulpit.  It  was  handed  to  the  young  pastor  by  one 
whom  he  did  not  like  to  offend,  yet  he  knew  its  reading 
would  offend  others  ;  so  he  coupled  it  with  a  warning 
not  to  go,  as  dangerous  men  and  infidels  were  to  be  there. 
This  facing  both  ways  suited  nobody.  Before  we  were 
fairly  off  the  steps  of  the  meeting-house,  one  of  the  best 
church  members  said  :  "  I  shall  go  and  hear  for  myself" 
The  warning  v.-as   an    invitation    accepted   by  him    and 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  73 

others.     My  father's  advice  to   hear  all  sides,    sent  me 
there,  and  I  found  a  good  audience,  whose  general  intel- 
ligence and  decorum  surprised   me.     Among  the  group 
of  speakers  on  the  platform  in  front  of  the  pulpit  was  one 
quite  bald,  with  a  genial  face,  strong  and  hopeful,  wear- 
ing  gold  spectacles,  simply  but   neatly  dressed,  of  sub- 
stantial clean-cut  form,  rather  above  the  average  size, — 
his  attractive  and  inspiring  presence  giving  an  impression 
of  a   clear-sighted    man   who  would   go   straight  to   the 
mark.     This  was  Garrison,  the  incendiary  traitor  of  poli- 
ticians,   the  arch-infidel   of   pro-slavery  preachers  !     He 
spoke  with  intense  earnestness,  and  great  moral  power, 
but  with  entire  self-poise,  and  in  the  best  spirit.     I  thought, 
"Verily,  the  devil  is  not  so  black  as  he  is  painted."     But 
the  old  prejudice  was  not  gone.     The  next  day  my  friend, 
Mrs.  Stetson, — my  Paul  and  Onesimus  expounder,  asked 
me  :   "How  did  you  like  Mr.     Garrison  .?  "    I  replied  : 
"  He  spoke  well.     I  guess  he  wasn't  in  one  of  his  black 
moods."    She  laughed  and  said:   "You  will  never  see 
him  in  a  black  mood,"  and  I  never  did.     Soon  after   this 
came  a  great  convention  in  Boston,  and  I  wanted  to  go, 
but  did  not  wish  to  ask  my  father  for  money  to  pay  my 
expenses.     Fortunately,  just  in  time,  a  message  came  to 
me  from  the  great  button-factory  store  at  Haydenville,  to 
come  and  help  them  take  the  yearly  account  of  stock.      I 
went,  worked   hard  a  week   or  more,  came   away  with 
twenty-five  dollars  in  my  pocket,  independent  as  a  mil- 
lionaire, and  went   to  Boston    for  a  week.      In  the   old 
Marlboro  chapel  I  heard  Phillips,  Garrison,  Abby  Kelly, 
Parker,  Pillsbury,  Pierpont  and  others.     Such  impassioned 
eloquence  ;    such    moral  and  spiritual  power  ;  such  bold 
rebuke  and  warning  :  such  exposure  of  iniquity  in  high 
places  ;  such  tender  pleading  for  the  wronged  and  plun- 
dered !     I  felt  that  they  were  right,  and  went  home  under 
conviction.      But  I  thought  that  possibly  this  splendid  elo- 
quence had  swept  me  off  my  feet,  and  resolved  to  wait  a 


74  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

fortnight,  think  it  over  quietly,  and  then  decide.  The  reso- 
lution was  g-ood,  but  the  end  of  my  appointed  time  found 
me  an  avowed  abolitionist.  This  avowal  is  easy  to  tell 
of  now,  but  it  was  not  easy  to  make  then.  The  rising 
generation  can  form  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  sway  of  the 
slave  power,  the  prejudice  against  abolitionists,  and  the 
contempt  and  hatred  of  the  negro  at  that  time.  The  pest 
reached  everywhere,  like  the  frogs  of  Eg)'pt  in  the  plague 
of  Pharaoh.  The  majority  of  the  clergy  of  all  sects  and 
sections,  from  Texas  to  Maine,  held  slavery  as  a  divine 
institution,  sanctioned  by  the  Bible.  The  political  parties 
were  its  tools. 

James  G.  Birney  tells  of  a  "Pastoral  Letter"  of  the 
General  Conference  of  the  INIethodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
1836,  to  their  churches  and  ministers,  exhorting  them  : 

"To  abstain  from  all  abolition  movements  and  associa- 
tions, and  to  refrain  from  patronizing  any  of  their  publica- 
tions. .  .  From  every  view  of  the  subject  which  we  have 
been  able  to  take,  and  from  the  most  calm  and  dispas- 
sionate survey  of  the  whole  ground,  we  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  only  safe,  prudent,  and  scriptural  way 
for  us,  both  as  ministers  and  people,  to  take,  is  wholly  io 
refrain  from  fhis  agitating  subject." 

After  Daniel  Webster  made  his  great  speech  in  favor  of 

the  fugitive  slave  law  Whittier  said  of  him  : 

"So  fallen,  so  lost,  the  light  withdrawn, 
Wliich  once  he  wore  ! 
The  glory  from  his  gray  hairs  gone, 
Forever  more  ! 

Of  all  we  loved  and  honored,  nought 

Save  power  remains — 
A  fallen  angel's  pride  of  thought. 

Still  strong  in  chains. 

All  else  is  gone  ;  from  those  great  eyes, 

The  soul  is  fled  ; 
When  faith  is  lost,  when  honor  dies. 

The  man  is  dead  !  " 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YE  A  PS.  75 

Edward  Everett,  when  governor  of  Massachusetts,  rec- 
ommended the  legislature  to  pass  a  law  against  anti- 
slavery  agitation.  Grave  orthodox  doctors  of  divinity  in 
New  England,  were  the  clerical  defenders  of  the  slave 
system,  and  a  Unitarian  divine  would  send  his  mother 
(or  brother)  back  into  slavery  to  save  the  Union.  The 
lesser  lights  did  their  part.  I  remember  once  giving  an 
anti-slavery  talk  on  a  packet  boat  on  the  Erie  canal,  at 
the  request  of  the  passengers,  and  after  its  close  noticing 
a  serious  looking  man,  with  a  clerical  white  neckcloth, 
talking  quietly  to  single  persons,  book  in  hand.  A  man 
came  to  me  and  said:  "That's  a  preacher  defending 
slavery  from  the  Bible."  Of  such  preachers  Whittier 
said  : 

•'Paid  hypocrites,  who  turn  judgment  aside. 

And  rob  the  holy  book 
Of  those  high  words  of  truth  which  search  and  burn, 

In  warning  and  rebuke. 

Their  glory  and  their  might  shall  perish. 

And  their  very  name  shall  be 
Vile  before  all  the  people,  in  the  light 

Of  a  world's  liberty." 

The  pioneer  abolitionists  were  devoted,  plain  in  speech, 
uncompromising  and  stern  in  rebuke.  To  make  our 
judgment  of  them  complete,  to  discern  clearly  the  spirit 
and  temper  of  the  early  anti-slavery  advocates,  whether 
Garrisonians  or  liberty-party  men,  we  must  put  in  con- 
nection with  these  stern  rebukes  of  wrong  something  to 
show  their  feeling  toward  the  wrong-doer, — a  feeling  void 
of  all  vengeance  or  hatred,  and  ready  to  overcome  evil 
with  good.  Here  Garrison's  words  are  in  place.  He 
said  : 

"The  slave-holders  have  impeached  our  motives, 
libeled  our  characters,  and  threatened  our  lives.  No  in- 
dignity is  too  great  to  be  heaped  upon  us  ;  no  outrage  too 
shocking  to  be  perpetrated  on  our  persons  or  property. 


76  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

And  now  we  will  have  our  revenge  !  God  helping  us  we 
will  continue  to  use  all  lawful  and  Christian  means  for 
the  overthrow  of  their  suicidal  slave  system.  Ours  is  the 
agitation  of  humanity  in  view  of  cruelly,  of  virtue  in 
opposition  to  pollution,  of  holiness  against  impiety.  It 
is  the  agitation  of  thunder  and  lightning  to  purify  a 
corrupt  atmosphere,  of  the  storm  to  give  new  vigor  and 
freshness  to  field  and  forest.  Ours  is  the  incendiary  spirit 
of  truth,  that  burns  up  error,  of  freedom  that  melts  the 
fetters  of  the  bondman,  of  impartial  love  that  warms  every 
breast  with  the  sacred  fire  of  heaven.  Could  any  men 
but  those  of  extraordinary  moral  courage  and  endurance, 
sustain  unflinchingly  a  contest  which  requires  such  loss  of 
reputation,  and  such  hazard  of  property  and  life.?  They 
are  the  winnowing  of  the  nation.  When  that  slave-sys- 
tem falls — as  fall  it  must — we  will  repay  them  with  rich 
blessings.  We  will  remove  from  them  all  source  of  alarm, 
and  the  cause  of  all  insurrection  ;  increase  the  value  of 
their  estates  tenfold  ;  give  an  Eden-like  fertility  to  their 
perishing  soil  ;  build  up  the  old  waste  places  and  repair 
all  breaches  ;  make  their  laborers  contented,  grateful  and 
happy  ;  wake  up  the  entombed  genius  of  invention,  and 
the  dormant  spirit  of  enterprise ;  open  to  them  new 
sources  of  affluence  ;  multiply  their  branches  of  industry  ; 
erect  manufactories,  build  railways,  dig  canals  ;  establish 
schools,  academies,  colleges  and  all  beneficent  institu- 
tions ;  extend  their  commerce  to  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
and  to  an  unimagined  amount ;  turn  the  tide  of  Western 
adventure  and  Northern  capital  into  Southern  channels ; 
unite  the  North  and  the  South  by  indissoluble  ties  ;  change 
the  entire  moral  aspect  of  society  ;  cause  pure  and  un- 
deliled  religion  to  flourish  ;  avert  impending  judgments, 
and  secure  heavenly  blessings,  and  fill  the  land  with 
peace,  prosperity  and  happiness  !  Thus,  and  thus  only, 
will  we  be  revenged  upon  them — for   all   the   evil  they 


UrWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  77 

are  now  doing-,  or  may  hereafter  do  to  us — past,  present 
and  to  come  I  " 

It  would  hardly  be  possible  to  put  in  language  a  better 
statement  of  the  benefits  already  beginning  to  be  realized 
in  the  new  South — benefits  hailed  and  helped  in  fraternal 
spirit  by  the  North.  In  the  support  of  slavery  all  sections 
of  our  country  had  their  share  of  guilt  and  blindness,  and 
all  can  now  join  in  repentance  and  reconciliation, — in  the 
up-building  of  right  and  freedom.  "Wisdom  is  justified 
of  her  children,"  and  the  good  which  we  begin  to  realize 
from  the  downfall  of  chattel-slavery  shows  that  the 
abolitionists  were  right  and  wise.  That  downfall  came 
by  a  terrible  civil  conflict,  because  the  people  paid  no 
timely  heed  to  the  noble  company  of  men  and  women 
fitly  called  "  the  winnowing  of  the  nation." 

It  is  mainly  of  Garrison  as  a  beloved  friend  that  I  would 
speak.  His  remarkable  history,  from  being  mobbed  in 
Boston,  imprisoned  in  Baltimore  jail,  and  called  by  all 
manner  of  evil  names,  to  walking  daily  in  the  very 
streets  where  the  mob  sought  his  life,  as  an  honored 
citizen,  and  being  seen  and  heard  everywhere  with 
marked  respect  and  reverence,  is  written  elsewhere.  I 
met  him  first  at  the  Northampton  Association,  and  his 
buoyant  happiness  surprised  and  delighted  me.  He  had 
the  heroic  cheerfulness  that  comes  from  unwavering  faith 
in  the  conquering  power  of  truth,  and  from  devotedness 
to  a  high  purpose.  Good  health,  a  happy  temperament, 
and  a  well-ordered  home,  full  of  sympathy  and  affection, 
helped  this  unfailing  joy  of  the  spirit,  which  grew  brighter 
amidst  trial  and  abuse,  and  became  a  flame  of  heroism  in 
hours  of  danger.  The  play  of  a  fine  humor,  the  bright- 
ness of  a  sunny  heart,  and  the  strength  of  a  great  soul, 
gave  varied  interest  to  his  conversation.  He  used  to 
speak  of  owing  much  to  his  mother,  who  was  turned  out 
of  doors  by  her  Episcopalian  parents  in  New  Brunswick, 
because  she  joined  the  unpopular  Baptist  Church,  in  obe- 


78  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

dience  to  her  own  convictions.  To  know  that  anything 
was  right  was  to  be  sure  of  its  triumph  in  fit  time,  and  to 
be  ready  to  nidorse  it.  To  find  an  error,  no  matter  how 
sacredly  revered,  was  to  know  that  it  must  die,  and  to 
bear  testimony  against  it  at  whatever  cost.  All  this  w^as 
without  empty  boast  or  vain  scoff,  but  with  self-poised 
assurance,  taking  no  council  of  "the  fear  of  man  which 
brin<reth  a  snare." 

Orthodox  in  his  views  from  early  education,  he  paid 
less  heed  to  creeds  and  more  to  deeds  as  years  went  on. 
The  wicked  use  which  the  clerical  upholders  of  slavery 
made  of  the  Bible,  as  the  bulwark  of  that  "sum  of  all 
villainies  " — as  John  Wesley  fitly  called  the  slave-system 
— led  him  to  study  it  more  carefully,  and  to  use  with 
great  power  its  truly  inspired  utterances  in  favor  of 
freedom.  Many  times  I  have  heard  him  read  :  "  Cry 
aloud  and  spare  not,  rebuke  my  people  for  their  trans- 
gressions and  the  house  of  Jacob  for  their  sins,"  and 
other  like  warnings  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets, 
and  the  New  Testament  words  :  "I  am  come  to  preach 
deliverance  to  the  captive,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison 
to  them  that  are  in  bonds,"  in  a  most  impressive  and  beau- 
tiful manner.  It  was  worth  going  miles  to  hear  his  Bible 
readings,  yet  the  book  was  not  infallible  to  him.  He  said 
that  his  new  and  rational  views  gave  more  force  and 
meaning  to  its  nobler  parts  and  made  it  of  more  value. 

His  moral  power  with  an  audience  was  great.  In  old 
Faneuil  Hall,  in  the  presence  of  three  thousand  people, 
I  once  heard  him  read  a  resolution,  severely  condemning 
an  eminent  State  official  for  some  pro-slavery  act.  This 
man  was  popular,  a  good  man  in  many  respects,  but 
lacked  fidelity  and  courage  for  the  crisis.  The  hall  rang 
with  outcries  and  hisses,  Garrison  meanwhile  standing 
with  folded  arms,  erect,  resolute,  quietly  waiting  his 
time.  At  last  he  was  able  to  say  :  "  Hear  my  reasons." 
The  tumult  quieted,  and  for  an  hour  his  words  were  like 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  79 

cannon  balls  heated  at  some  glowing  furnace.     In  closing 
he  said:    "If  any  one  questions   my  statements,  let  him 
speak,  and  he  shall  have  fair  hearing."     All  was  quiet  as 
the  grave  while  he  waited,  standing  like  a  strong  tower, 
and  his  final  word  rang  out  in  the  silence  :     "My  charge 
is  true  ;  no  man  dare  deny  it."     There  were  able  men  ni 
that  audience,  ready  in   speech,  and  who  were  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  person  denounced.      But  for  the  ablest  to 
take  up  that  quarrel  would  have  been  as  though  some 
rash  knave,  without  horse  or  armor,  had  entered  the  lists 
against  Richard  the    lion-hearted,  on  his  war-horse,  clad 
in  steel  and  armed  with  spear  and  sword.     The  blows  of 
the    sword  of  the  Spirit  are   more  resistless  and  terrible 
than   the  sweeping  strokes  of  King  Richard's  trenchant 
weapon.     Emerson  said:   "Eloquence  is  cheap  in  anti- 
slavery  meetings.''     This  was  true,  for  the  theme  was  an 
inspiration  ;  but  in  every   meeting   where  Garrison  was 
present  his  word  was  wanted  to  give  completeness  to  the 
work.     An  early  apprentice  in  a  printing  office,  type-set- 
ting was   always  an    enjoyment  to    him,  and    he  was    a 
rapid  and  correct  printer.      I   have  seen   him  set  up  his 
editorials  without  manuscript,  as  he  often  did.      His  home 
in  Boston  was  in  Dix  Place,  near  Washington  Street,  its 
rear  windows  looking  out  on  Hollis  Street  Church,  where 
John  Pierpont  preached.      It  was  a  hospitable  home,  and 
the  pleasant  days  there  are  well  remembered.      He  was 
very   thoughtful   of  the  comfort  of  others,  and  his  wife 
equally  so.     In    that   household,  so    full  of  cheer  and  of 
simple  and  genuine  kindness,  one  would  not  dream  of 
the  storm  of  abuse  without,  of  the  $5,000  reward  of  the 
State  of  Georgia  for  the  person  of  the  happy  husband,  or 
of  the  mobs  howling  at  his  heels  in  the  streets,  but  a  few 
years  before.      It  was  a  clean  home,  simply  furnished  and 
beautifully  well    ordered.      There  was  no    taint  of   wines 
or  tobacco  in  its   air,  and  a  fine  sense  of  moral   purity, 
pervaded  its  sacred  precincts.     The  children,   four  sons 


8o  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

and  a  daughter,  were  full  of  life,  and  their  buoyant  spirits 
were  never  crushed,  but  they  were  admirably  trained  and 
dutifully  obedient. 

While  of  necessity,  the  great  work  of  his  life  was  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery,  he  was  not  of  narrow  mind. 
His  delightful  home  talk  showed  healthy  and  wide  inter- 
est, and  enthusiasm  for  freedom  of  thought,  the  equality 
of  woman,  non-resistance  and  temperance,  and  his 
early  public  advocacy  of  these  and  like  reforms  is  well- 
known. 

In  later  years,  since  the  abolition  of  slavery,  his  home 
was  in  Roxbury — a  part  of  Boston — the  house  high  up  on 
a  pile  of  granite  rocks,  with  the  wild  pines  rooted  in  their 
crevices,  yet  the  street  cars  not  far  away.  There  I  made 
several  visits,  and  had  hours  of  inspiring  talk.  His  wife 
was  an  invalid  in  her  room,  his  own  health  uncertain, 
but  his  mind  as  clear,  and  his  spirit  as  noble  and  sweet 
as  ever.  We  talked  much  of  Spiritualism,  which  he  had 
believed  for  more  than  twenty  years. 

At  that  house,  in  the  last  year  of  his  life,  I  carefully 
noted  down  as  he  gave  it  this 

INTERESTING    EXPERIENCE  : 

Henry  C.  Wright,  his  old  and  valued  friend  and  co- 
worker, had  passed  suddenly  away,  and  Wendell  Phillips 
and  himself  were  made  executors  of  his  will.  His  body 
was  put  in  a  vault  at  Pawtucket,  awaiting  a  permanent 
burial,  and  several  offers  came  from  friends  who  wished 
to  erect  monuments  in  IVIount  Auburn  and  elsewhere. 
These  were  not  accepted,  as  Mr.  W^right  was  known  to 
be  averse  to  any  display.  Mr.  Phillips  had  said  to  Gar- 
rison :  "Do  as  you  please,  and  I  shall  be  satisfied." 
One  day  he  visited  a  medium  near  Boston,  with  no 
thought  of  Henry  C.  Wright  in  his  mind,  but  with  a  hope 
that  another  friend  might  be  heard  from.  A  spoken 
message  came  through  the  medium,  purporting  to  be  from 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  8 1 

Mr.    Wn'eht,     and    Garrison  was    told    he    would    soon 
be   sick    and  would   go  to  Providence   for    medical   aid. 
He  was  asked  to  visit  the  cemetery  of  that  city,  to  buy  a 
certain  lot  carefully  described,  and  bury  the  body  there. 
He  was  ill  soon  after,  and  went  to  Providence  as  foretold. 
There  he  saw  another  medium,  a  stranger,  and  a  message 
was  uttered,  purporting  to  be  again  from  his  old  friend, 
describing  the  lot,  the  trees  and  scenery  about  it,  and  a 
single  tree  on  its  border  exactly  as  the  other  medium  had 
done,  and  he  was  again  urged  to  buy  the  lot  and  hasten 
the   burial.      He  went   to    the   cemetery,  found  a  young 
man  in  the   office,  and   asked   to  be   shown    the    corner 
(north-east,  I  think)  where  this  lot  had  been  described. 
They  went  out  to  the  place,  and  no  such  scenery  or  lot 
was  there.      He  went  away  thinking  it  all  a  strange  mis- 
take, and  gave  it  up,  yet  was  not  easy  in   mind.     A  few 
days  after  he  went  again,  found  the  Superintendent,  asked 
if  any  small  vacant  lot  for  a  single  grave  was  for  sale, 
and  was  told  there  was  none.      He  then  asked  to  see  the 
north-east   part    of  the   grounds,    and,    as   they   started, 
noticed  that  they  took  a  different  direction  from  that  of 
his  former  search.     As  they  reached  near  the  borders  of 
the  grounds,  he  began  to  recognize  the  scenery,  soon  saw 
the  very  tree,   as  described  by  both  mediums,   and  just 
then  the  Superintendent  said:   "I  had  forgotten.     There 
is  a  single  lot  for   sale    under   that   tree."     The  lot  was 
exactly  as  described  ;  the  former  guide  had  taken  a  wrong 
path,    the    Superintendent's  correct   guidance  led  to  the 
right   spot,   the    medium's   words    were    verified,  the   lot 
bought,  and  there  the  mortal  remains  of  the  veteran  re- 
former rest. 

In  many  minds  religion  is  associated  with  conformity 
to  popular  outward  standards — with  belief  in  an  infallible 
Bible,  a  holy  Sabbath,  a  dogmatic  creed,  and  the  word 
of  its  ordained  teachers.     These  are  held  as  its  bulwarks, 

to  weaken  them  imperils  it,  to  destroy  them  would  be  its 

6 


82  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


ruin.  He  who  conforms  is  religious  ;  he  who  does  not 
is  irrehgious.  Garrison  was  a  non-conformist,  yet  one  of 
the  most  truly  religious  men.  He  was  not  agnostic  or 
materialistic,  but  affirmed  his  clear  and  deep  convictions 
as  strongly  as  any  Puritan  of  the  olden  time,  yet  without 
intolerance.  He  had  knowledge  of  spiritual  realities, 
rational  faith,  natural  reverence,  noble  inspiration,  a  daily 
life,  beautiful  and  heroic,  a  transition  to  the  higher  life, 
sweet  and  peaceful.  Whittier's  tribute,  sent  to  his  funeral 
and  read  there,  is  simple  truth  in  golden  words  : 

"The  storm  and  peril  overpast. 

The  howling  hatred  shamed  and  still, 

Go,  soul  of  freedom  !  take  at  last. 

The  place  which  thou  alone  canst  fill. 
«  «  *  *  * 

Not  for  thyself,  but  for  the  slave. 

Thy  words  of  thunder  shook  the  world  ; 
No  selfish  griefs  or  hatred  gave 

The  strength  wherewith  thy  bolts  were  hurled. 

From  lips  that  Sinai's  trumpet  blew. 

We  heard  a  tenderer  undersong  ; 
Thy  very  wrath  from  pity  grew, 

From  love  of  man  thy  hate  of  wrong, 
*  *  «  *  « 

Go  leave  behind  thee  all  that  mars 

The  work  below  of  man  for  man 
With  the  white  legions  of  the   stars. 

Do  service  such  as  angels  can. 

Wherever  wrong  shall  right  deny. 

Or  sutTering  spirits  urge  their  plea, 
Be  thine  a  voice  to  smite  the  lie, 

A  hand  to  set  the  captive  free  !  " 

The  mission  and  life-work  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison 
was  to  denounce  chattel-slavery  as  the  shame  and  peril  of 
the  land ;  to  emphasize  the  sacredness  and  the  safety 
of  human  liberty,  personal,  mental,  and  religious,  and  to 
demand  that  liberty  for  all ;  to  set  an  example  of  dauntless 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  83 

courage  ;  to  kindle  a  flame  of  moral  heroism  ;  to  teach  anew 
the  positive  and  conquering  power  of  right,  whereby 
"one  shall  chase  a  thousand,  and  two  shall  put  ten  thou- 
sand to  flight."  His  task  was  like  creating  a  soul  beneath 
the  ribs  of  death,  but  it  was  well  done,  and  the  country 
and  the  world  owe  much  to  him  and  to  his  co-workers — the 
pioneer  abolitionists. 

HELEN  E.    BENSON  GARRISON. 

Of  Mrs.  Garrison  I  transcribe  this  tribute,  given  at  her 
funeral  by  Wendell  Phillips.  He  knew  her  better  than  I 
did,  but  my  clear  remembrance  of  her  admirable  character 
and  thoughtful  kindness  makes  his  every  word  true.  He 
said  : 

"How  cheerfully  she  took  up  the  daily  burden  of  life 
and  effort.  With  what  serene  courage  she  looked  into  the 
face  of  peril  to  her  own  life,  and  to  those  dearer  to  her 
than  life.  Trained  among  Friends,  with  the  blood  of 
martyrdom  and  self-sacrifice  in  her  veins,  she  came  so 
naturally  to  the  altar  !  Sheltered  in  the  jail,  a  great  city 
hun(rerin<r  for  his  life,  how  strong-  her  husband  must  have 
been  when  they  brought  him  his  young  wife's  brave  words  : 
"I  know  my  husband  will  never  betray  his  principles." 
Helpmeet,  indeed,  for  the  pioneer  in  that  terrible  fight ! 
The  most  unselfish  of  all  human  beings,  she  poured  her 
strength  into  the  lives  of  those  about  her.  ...  A  young 
mother,  with  the  cares  of  a  growing  family,  not  rich  in 
means,  only  her  own  hands  to  help,  yet  never  failing  in 
cheerful  welcome,  with  rare  executive  ability,  doing  a  great 
deal,  and  so  easily  as  never  to  seem  burdened  !  .  .  .  She 
made  a  family  of  their  friends,  and  her  roof  was  always  a 
home  for  all ;  yet  drudgery  did  not  check  thought,  or  care 
narrow  her  interest.  She  was  not  merely  the  mother  or 
the  head  of  a  home  ;  her  own  life  and  her  husband's  moved 
hand  in  hand  in  such  loving  accord,  seemed  so  exactly  one, 
that  it  was  hard  to  divide  their  work.     At  the  fireside,  in 


84  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS, 

the  hours,  not  frequent,  of  relaxation,  in  scenes  of  stormy 
debate,  that  beautiful  presence  of  rare  sweetness  and  dig- 
nity, what  an  inspiration  and  power  it  was  !  And  then 
the  mother — fond,  painstaking  and  faithful.  .  .  .  She  is 
not  dead.  She  is  gone  before.  .  .  .  She  has  joined  the 
old  band  that  worked  lifelong  for  the  true  and  the  good. 
We  can  see  them  bend  over  and  lift  her  up  to  them, 
to  a  broader  life.  She  works  on  a  higher  level ;  ministers 
to  old  ideas,  guards  lovingly  those  she  went  through 
life  with." 

"the  fleas  of  conventioxs. " 

So  Emerson  wittily  names  the  odd  characters  that  hang 
around  all  reform  movements  in  their  pioneer  days. 

Silas  Lamson — white  haired,  with  long  beard,  clad  in 
unbleached  flannel,  scythe  snath  in  hand  and  a  loaf  of 
brown  bread  under  his  arm — used  to  sit  in  anti-slavery 
meetings  in  INIarlboro  Chapel  in  Boston.  Abby  Folsom, 
too,  was  there  with  him,  a  good  woman,  a  monomaniac 
on  free  speech,  who  would  talk,  in  season  and  out, 
especially  out.  Often  have  I  seen  them,  and  their  like, 
in  such  places. 

It  seems  as  though  every  new  and  sweeping  wave  of 
spiritual  life,  not  only  stirred  up  the  depths  of  thought,  but 
that  the  folly  and  passion  of  poor  humanity  are  also 
swept  along  like  froth  on  the  wave.  The  froth  comes  to 
naught,  but  is  troublesome  enough  w^hile  it  lasts.  Paul 
had  a  deal  of  trouble  with  contentious  and  evil  men,  and 
with  babbling  and  shallow  women,  for  whom  his  Corin- 
thian Epistles  were  meant.  Luther  was  greatly  vexed  by 
foolish  Protestants  loose  in  morals.  Wesley  was  annoyed 
by  canting  nonsense  among  his  Methodist  people.  The 
"fleas  "  stuck  to  anti-slavery  meetings,  and  they  stick  yet 
to  later  movements.  Seasons  of  marked  mental  and 
moral  activity,  and  of  noble  and  needed  reforms,  also  stir 
to  new  life  the  folly  and  perverted  desires  of  unbalanced 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  85 

people.  In  old  anti-slavery  days  the  pious  and  respect- 
able pro-slavery  conservatives  took  the  Lamsons  and 
Abby  Folsoms  as  types  of  the  movement,  foolishly  iy;- 
nored  the  self-poise  and  moral  power  of  Garrison,  Gerritt 
Smith  and  others,  and  were  blind  to  the  great  value  of 
their  aims.  Blind  conservatives  and  thoughtless  people 
to-day  hold  "cranks"  and  frauds  as  types  of  temperance 
and  woman-suffrage  and  spiritualism,  and  sit  compla- 
cently while  the  open  saloon  blasts  and  bliglits  their 
sons  and  desolates  the  homes  of  their  daughters.  False 
prophets  can  be  traced  from  Judea  to  Chicago,  from  the 
days  of  Christ  to  our  own  time  bad  men  have  been  full  of 
the  cant  of  piety,  or  of  reform.  Our  active  age  has  its 
self-styled  reformers, — noisy,  often  well-meaning  but  of 
light  weight  and  erratic  course.  The  clear  insight, 
steady  courage,  and  healthy  outlook  of  the  leaders  in 
wise  reforms  are  quite  unlike  the  "zeal  without  knowl- 
edge "  we  sometimes  meet.  Especially  is  their  hopeful 
and  abiding  faith,  their  religious  trust  in  the  triumph  of 
the  right,  unlike  the  gloomy  pessimism  which  leads  to 
blind  striking  in  the  dark,  and  to  enervating  hate  and  de- 
spair. The  world's  true  prophets  and  great  reformers 
still  live.  They  are  among  us  and  we  fail  to  know 
them  ! 

PERSONAL  INCmENTS  AND  ACQUAINTANCES, 

The  anti-slavery  movement  was  a  signal  illustration  of 
the  conquering  power  of  conscience — of  truth,  spoken 
with  dauntless  courage.  Here  was  the  slave-system, 
strong  in  its  control  over  $1,000,000,000  invested  in  human 
beings — a  great  and  hideous  monopoly.  Parties,  sects, 
office-holders,  and  pulpits  were  in  its  hands.  The  people 
were  inert,  and  their  prejudices  largely  with  the  slave- 
holder. For  one  poor  man  to  demand  the  immediate  over- 
throw of  this  system  seemed  absurd.  The  world,  then,  even 
more   than   now,  saw  power  only  in  money  and  in   the 


86  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

machinery  of  party  and  sect,  and  had  small  thought  of  a 
mightier  power,  spiritual  and  invisible. 

Conscience  won  ;  politicians  and  pulpits  gave  way  ; 
parties  broke  in  pieces,  gold  was  but  dross  as  against 
justice  ;  slavery  went  down,  and  the  planter  in  Georgia 
joins  the  abolitionist  in  Massachusetts  in  rejoicing  at  its 
downfall. 

In  the  pioneer  anti-slavery  lecture  field,  from  Maine  to 
Missouri  and  Delaware,  I  spent  years  in  cities,  towns, 
and  country  by-ways,  travelled  thousands  of  miles  and 
spoke  hundreds  of  times.  A  great  book  could  be  filled 
wich  stories  of  hospitable  homes,  and  warm  welcomes, 
golden  compensations  for  prejudice  and  contempt  else- 
where, and  inspiring  helps  in  the  great  contest.  Misun- 
derstood and  disliked  or  hated  by  the  outside  majority, 
the  abolitionists  had  a  warm  side  for  each  other  ;  and 
this,  with  their  intelligence,  moral  courage  and  fidelity, 
made  their  society  both  delightful  and  instructive.  I 
have  often  heard  it  said,  and  truly,  that  if  their  efforts 
never  freed  a  slave,  the  benefits  of  the  culture  of  charac- 
ter for  themselves  would  more  than  pay  for  all  their 
troubles  and  trials.  People  marvel  at  the  growth  of 
Frederick  Douglass,  from  ignorance  to  his  present 
eminence.  He  had  twenty  years  of  the  best  education 
in  America.  No  University  could  have  given  such  scope 
for  mental  and  moral  culture  as  the  society  of  the  eminent 
anti-slavery  advocates,  the  hearing  of  their  great  speeches, 
and  the  reading  of  such  books  as  they,  or  his  own 
genius,  might  suggest.  In  the  light  and  warmth  of  such 
an  atmosphere  his  large  faculties  gained  wealth  and 
freedom. 

One  of  my  first  journeys  in  the  field  was  in  1845 — from 
Hatfield  to  the  Western  Reserve  in  Ohio,  to  join  Stephen 
S.  Foster  and  Abby  Kelley,  for  three  months.  I  reached 
Ashtabula  with  five  dollars  in  my  purse,  and  with  the 
supreme  independence  of  youth,  which  made  much  or 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  87 

little  of  small  moment.  The  great  grove  meetings  were 
full  of  novel  attraction.  In  one  place  I  remember,  where 
thousands  gathered,  a  farm  wagon  used  as  a  speaker's 
stand,  was  taken  to  pieces  in  the  night  and  its  wheels 
and  frame  were  scattered  over  the  ten  acre  lot.  In  the 
morning  after  it  was  again  put  together,  Mr.  Foster  stood 
up  in  it  and  said  he  had  seen  some  courageous  acts, 
"  but  the  bravery  needed  to  mob  an  old  wagon  in  the 
dark  was  most  wonderful  !  "  There  was  a  great  laugh, 
and  the  wagon  was  thereafter  safe. 

In  private  life  S.  S.  Foster  was  gentle  and  true  ;  one  of 
the  very  kindest  of  friends  ;  in  public  his  words  had  the 
directness  and  unbending  sternness  of  the  Puritan.  He 
was  a  Puritan,  in  grain  and  temper,  and  early  training ; 
and  study  for  the  ministry  in  an  orthodox  seminary  in 
New  England  deepened  his  inherited  qualities.  Their 
creed  he  did  not  believe,  but  he  scourged  the  upholders 
of  slavery,  as  John  Knox  in  his  Scotch  pulpit  scourged 
heretics,  and,  like  John  Knox,  he  called  things  by  their 
right  names.  The  communion  tables  of  Presbyterians, 
Methodists  and  others,  reached  from  the  sunny  south  to 
the  pine  woods  of  Maine, — all  were  "brethren  in  the 
Lord''  together.  The  "Southern  brethren"  held  and 
bought  and  sold  slaves,  were  "  man  stealers  ;  "  the  North- 
ern brethren  fraternized  with  them,  kept  silent  as  to  their 
crime,  and  called  them  Christians.  He  charged  the 
American  Church  and  clergy  with  being  "a  brotherhood 
of  thieves,"  and  made  that  the  title  of  a  widely-read 
pamphlet  of  fearful  facts.  This  terrible  logic  startled  the 
dullest,  and  was  hard  to  escape  from.  If  a  good  church 
member  or  preacher  denied  it,  and  wished  a  hearing,  he 
was  fairly  and  fully  heard,  but  then  came  the  crushing 
rejoinder.  In  Marlboro  chapel,  Boston,  I  saw  him  go  to 
the  platform  carrying  a  pair  of  heavy  slave-shackles  and 
an  iron  collar,  three-pronged  and  ugly  looking.  In  due 
time  he  spoke,  rattling  the  shackles  he  said  :   "These  are 


88  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

your  bonds  of  Christian  fellowship  ;  "  holding  up  the 
great  collar  and  clasping  it  about  his  neck,  with  its  prongs 
standing  out  above  his  head,  he  continued:  "And  this 
is  one  of  your  tokens  of  Christian  love  !  "  and  told  where 
these  came  from,  that  none  might  doubt  their  genuine- 
ness. He  was  an  agitator  and  did  a  needed  work. 
Emerson's  description  of  a  strong  orator  well  applies  to 
him  :  "  He  mobbed  the  mob,  and  was  more  audacious 
than  they  ;  "  but  he  was  not  recklessly  destructive  ;  he 
was  only  smiting  down  the  bad,  that  the  good  might  live 
all  the  better.  Few  did  more  for  the  final  triumph  of 
freedom  than  this  strong  and  excellent  man. 

In  New  Lisbon,  Ohio,  one  night  a  hundred  of  us  stayed 
at  the  Quaker  home  of  Mr.  Garretson,  sleeping  in  rows 
feet  to  feet  on  the  floor,  which  was  strewn  with  straw 
covered  with  coarse  cloth.  About  midway  in  the  rows 
were  two  tall  Virginians,  slaveholders,  who  had  come 
over  to  hear  the  abohtionists.  Their  feet  almost  touched, 
and  one  laughingly  said  :  "Gentlemen,  this  is  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line.  No  man  crosses  this  in  safety."  They 
were  manly  characters,  greatly  interested,  and  well-be- 
haved. The  next  day  a  riot  broke  up  the  meetings  for  a 
time,  and  filled  the  streets  with  dire  threats.  In  this  the 
Virginians  took  no  part,  but  expressed  a  lofty  and  genuine 
contempt  for  it.  Soon  came  a  reaction,  and  great  audi- 
ences kept  the  best  order. 

Soon  after  this  I  visited  Massillon  alone,  and  a  mob 
crowded  the  entrance  to  our  hall,  with  tar  kettle  and  a 
bag  of  feathers  ready  for  use  as  I  came  out  A  group  of 
men  guarded  me.  I  walked  near  enough  to  the  kettle  to 
touch  it ;  oaths  were  plenty,  but  no  act  save  a  fusillade  of 
bad  eggs  spattering  the  sidewalk,  but  hitting  nobody. 
I  never  feared  a  mob.  I  have  no  courage  to  boast  of, 
but  have  several  times  walked  quietly  through  groups  of 
angry  men,  shaking  their  fists  in  my  face.  A  ludicrous 
view  of  it  always  came  up  in  my  mind,  which  kept  fright 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  89 

away,  and  it  is  almost  impossible   for  a  mob   to  touch  a 
fearless  person. 

In  Phillipsville,  now  Belmont,  among-  the  hills  of  Alle- 
ghany County,  New  York,  an  egg  thrown  through  the 
church  door,  struck  me  in  the  left  eye.  All  n-ght  long  a 
kind  Presbyterian  minister,  I\Ir.  Van  Antwerp,  watched 
by  me  and  kept  wet  and  cool  cloths  on  the  swollen  and 
bleeding  eye,  and  in  two  weeks  I  was  happily  well,  and 
past  what  seemed  a  serious  hurt.  There  was  great 
indignation  among  the  people,  and  that  poor  Qgg  was  as 
good  as  a  dozen  able  speeches. 

Going  back  to  Ohio,  a  visit  to  the  home  of  Joshua  R. 
Giddings,  at  Jefferson,  Ashtabula  County,  is  well  remem- 
bered.     He  entertained  us   and  others,  and  took  pan  in 
our  meetings,  giving  frank  assent,  and  criticism  as  fran.k 
and  fair.     He  was  a  brave  man,  unpretending  and  genuine, 
his  manners  those  of  a  plain  countryman  who  had  seen 
enouo-h    of  the    world   to   be    at   ease.      A   strong    man 
physically  too,  with  an  aspect  and  carriage  showing  that 
he  knew  no  fear.     An  elderly  man  came  to  his  door  on  a 
warm   afternoon,   whom   he   greeted   as    a   friend.       He 
seemed  a  little  weary  after  a  long  ride  from   his   farm. 
Mr.  Giddings  asked:   "Where  is  your  horse.?"   "At  the 
gate,"  was  the  answer,  "and  I'll  put  him  in  your  barn  if 
there's  room."     "  You  don't  know  about  the  stables.     I'll 
put  him  in  for  you,"  said  Mr.  Giddings,  and  the  good  man 
rested  while  the  really  honorable  Congressman  stabled 
his  horse.      It  was  a  simple  act  of  neighborly  kindness, 
and  showed  what  manner  of  man  he  was.     In  the  morn- 
ing  our  host   said — after   breakfast:    "We   have  family 
prayers,  but  if  any  of  you  prefer  to  be  in  your   rooms, 
there  is  entire  freedom  here."     This  was  probably  said, 
because  he  thought  that  Abby  Kelley's  Quaker  education 
might  make  stated  seasons  of  prayer  distasteful   to  her. 
It  showed  a  largeness  that  we  liked,  and  we  all   stayed 
through   the   sincere   family   worship.       He    afterwards 


90  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

became  a  Spiritualist,  and  his  daughter  Maria,  who  was 
with  him  in  his  last  days  at  Montreal,  told  me  that  his 
faith  and  knowledge  gave  him  great  light  and  strength,  to 

the  last. 

I  liked  the  Western  Reserve — the  north-eastern  Ohio 
counties.  The  really  best  blood  of  New  England  went 
there— emigrants  from  the  middle  class,  upright  and 
thoughtful  working  people. 

On  Lodi  plains,  in  Michigan,  five  miles  south  of  Ann 
Arbor,  lived  Captain  Lowrie,  who  found  a  new  way  of 
preaching  the  gospel.  Over  the  gate  to  his  yard,  fast- 
ened to  posts  high  enough  for  a  load  of  hay  to  pass  under, 
was  a  wide  board,  on  which  was  painted  a  white  man  at 
one  end,  and  a  black  man  at  the  other,  holding  between 
them  a  scroll  with  these  words  :  "Are  we  not  all  breth- 
ren .?  "  This  sermon,  as  he  called  it,  went  far  and  wide. 
The  daily  stage  would  stop  for  passengers  to  read  it ; 
travellers  would  go  that  road  to  see  it ;  every  neighbor's 
child  talked  about  it,  and  so  the  gospel,  which  the  pulpits 
failed  to  preach,  went  forth  from  over  that  gateway.  Had 
he  been  a  weak  man,  it  might  have  been  torn  down,  but 
he  had  a  sturdy  will,  and  broad  acres  and  full  barns,  and 
was  of  a  sort  not  safe  to  tamper  with,  and  so  it  stood  for 
years.  One  man,  at  least,  enjoyed  it  greatly,  if  I  could 
judge  from  the  satisfaction  with  which  Captain  Lowrie  told 
me  of  the  talk  it  made. 

In  an  interior  town  in  Michigan,  I  gave  their  first  anti- 
slavery  lecture  to  some  thirty  men  in  a  small  hall  over  a 
store,  while  a  larger  number  were  in  the  room  below,  to 
hear  through  the  open  doors.  The  next  day  the  talk 
through  the  streets  was  that  the  marriage  institution  had 
been  attacked,  while  only  slavery,  as  destroying  marriage, 
had  been  alluded  to.  Fifteen  years  later,  I  went  to  that 
town  by  invitation,  spoke  in  a  large  hall  filled  with  its 
leading  people,  and  uttered  the  same  sentiments  with 
their  hearty  applause. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


91 


A    BRILLIANT   TEA    PARTY. 

The  itinerent  life  of  an  anti-slavery  lecturer  had  its  hard- 
ships and  trials  ; — wearying  travel  and  exposure,  fare  alter- 
nating from  the  choicest  to  the  plainest,  and  constant 
meeting  with  bitter  prejudice  and  abusive  misunderstand- 


ing. 


But  it  had  inspiring  compensations  as  well ; — hospitality 
and  help  the  most  heartfelt,  meeting  the  tried  and  true 
who  dared  to  assail  an  inhuman  institution,  close  alliance 
with  the  gifted  and  noble  in  a  sacred  work. 

Occasionally  came  especially  pleasant  seasons  of  en- 
joyment and  refreshment.  One  of  these  comes  to  mind 
as  a  delightful  memory.  In  1851  or  '52,  during  the 
second  visit  to  this  country  of  George  Thompson,  then  a 
member  of  the  British  Parliament,  an  anti-slavery  conven- 
tion was  held  in  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  The  large  hall  had  been 
filled  with  an  audience  sitting  spell-bound  to  hear  a  great 
speech  from  the  noble  English  orator,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  afternoon  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May  asked  a  goodly  company 
to  tea  at  his  home.  Some  twenty  of  us  walked  a  mile  or 
so  up  the  rising  ground  in  the  north-east  part  of  the 
city,  and  stopped  at  his  door  to  look  down  on  the  fair 
scene  below — town  and  country,  mansions  and  cottages, 
shops  and  green  fields,  seen  in  the  summer  sunlight. 

Edmund  Quincy,  with  the  grace  of  his  old-time  cour- 
tesy. Sojourner  Truth,  with  her  quaint  and  striking  ways, 
George  Thompson,  full  of  life  and  heart,  Abby  Kelley 
Foster,  earnest  and  attractive,  Charles  L.  Remond,  his 
dark  face  lighted  up,  his  fine  eyes  radiant,  Garrison, 
beaming  with  enjoyment,  and  his  admirable  wife  ;  Fred- 
erick Douglass,  noble  of  aspect  and  eloquent  in  private  as 
in  public,  Benjamin  Fish,  my  wife's  father,  a  tall.  Quaker- 
like figure,  his  genial  face  lighted  up  with  appreciative 
pleasure,  Samuel  May,  jr.,  steadfast  as  the  Leicester  hills 
of  his  happy  Massachusetts  home,  James  Miller  McKim, 
smiling  and  serene,  a  gifted  English  lady,  who  greatly 


92  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YE  A  PS. 

enjoyed  the  occasion  with  him,  Charles  B.  Sedgwick, 
an  eminent  Syracuse  lawyer,  a  true  man,  and  Mrs. 
Stebbins  and  myself  were  of  the  company  in  the  house. 
The  genial  host,  and  his  good  wife  and  her  sister,  min- 
istered to  every  want. 

At  the  tea-table  what  flow  of  fine  humor  softening  the 
deep  earnestness  of  speech,  what  grace  and  ease,  natural- 
ness and  fraternity  !  It  was  indeed  "the  best  society,"  in 
a  sense  higher  than  the  fashionable  world  can  reach. 
Changing  the  poet's  word  a  little  one  could  say  : 

'Twere  worth  ten  years  of  common  life, 
One  glance  at  their  array. 

A  wade  through  snowdrifts  to  a  country  schoolhcuse, 
a  bed  in  a  room  like  an  iceberg,  a  bad  egg  flung  in  your 
face,  even  the  mean  talk  of  a  pro-slavery  politician  or 
preacher  could  well  be  endured,  cheerfully,  if  the  thought 
of  that  rich  hour  of  compensation  came  up- 

HENRY    C.    WRIGHT. 

"Down  to  the  dust  be  Slavery  hurled  ! 
All  servile  chains  unbind  !  " 

Before  me  lies  the  Autobiography  of  Henry  C.  Wright, 
a  volume  of  four  hundred  pages,  published  in  Boston,  in 
1849,  by  Bela  Marsh — whose  little  Cornhill  bookstore,  in 
the  same  room  for  years  with  the  anti-slavery  office,  was 
the  place  where  all  sorts  of  books  on  unpopular,  yet 
excellent  reforms  and  reformers,  could  be  had,  and  where 
Bela  Marsh  himself,  one  of  the  best  of  men,  could  always 
be  seen.  On  the  blank  leaf  of  this  book  is  written  in  a 
bold,  plain,  ungraceful  hand  :  "Giles  Stebbins,  from  the 
author,  with  kind  regards,  Hopedale,  Mass.,  Nov.  27th, 
1853."  The  words  call  up  my  friend.  I  see  him — tall, 
massive,  with  large  head  and  a  brain  and  build  that 
showed — as  I  once  told  him,  while  he  laughed  a  hearty 
assent — that  "a  good  General  had  been  spoiled  to  make 
an  indifferent  peace  man."  He  was  a  notable  figure  at 
the  early  reform  meetings  in  New  England,  and  later  in 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  93 

the  West.  Born  in  the  Housatonic  Valley,  in  Connecticut, 
in  1797,  going  to  the  wild  woods  and  great  hills  of  Otsego 
County,  New  York,  in  early  childhood,  reared  in  the 
school  of  plain-living  and  hard  farm  work,  trained  to  do 
his  duty  honestly,  going  East  to  become  a  student  of 
theology  at  Andover,  graduating  as  an  orthodox  Con- 
gregational clergyman,  doing  admirable  work  among 
children  as  well  as  preaching  to  adults,  struggling  with 
doubts  and  fears  and  breaking  his  fetters  at  last  to  go  out 
and  stand  alone  and  religiously  seek  for  truth.  All  this 
and  more,  is  told  in  his  Autobiography — a  vivid  picture 
of  child  life  and  later  growth,  and  of  the  religious  usages 
of  that  day.  It  was  written  in-  1847,  at  Rochane  Cottage, 
on  the  banks  of  Gare  Loch,  in  the  West  Highlands  of 
Scotland,  the  summer-home  of  the  Patons  of  Glasgow, 
and  of  James  Anderson — a  son-in-law.  Catherine  Ander- 
son— "  my  wee  darling  "  as  he  called  her — was  a  lovely 
child,  who  reciprocated  his  affectionate  tenderness.  The 
frontispiece  of  the  Autobiography  is  a  fine  engraved 
portrait  of  himself  sitting,  with  the  child  standing  beside 
him,  her  head  resting  confidingly  on  his  breast,  and  her 
face  radiant  with  joy.  He  has  told  me  of  the  beauty  of 
Gare  Loch,  the  bold  mountain  scenery  about  it,  and  the 
intelligence  and  kindness  of  the  inmates  of  that  cottage, 
so  that  all  seems  familiar. 

When  his  clerical  career  was  ending  he  knew  Garrison 
and  X.  P.  Rogers,  went  into  the  anti-slavery  field  with  all 
the  strength  of  his  great  soul,  broke  down  in  health, 
visited  Great  Britain,  lectured  in  the  cities,  spent  some 
months  at  Graefenberg  water-cure,  when  Preissnitz  had  it 
in  charge,  talked  all  kinds  of  political  and  religious  heresy 
to  the  titled  nobles  among  its  guests,  and  came  home  to 
take  up  his  lifelong  pilgrimage  as  an  itinerant  speaker  in 
the  reform  field  in  this  countrv.  He  was  strons:,  direct, 
plain  ill  manners  and  speech,  not  subtle  in  discrimination, 
but  with  a  solid   depth   of  conviction.      He  concentrated 


g4  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

his  thoughts  on  the  subjects  near  his  soul,  and  enforced 
his  views  with  small  respect  for  things  held  sacred,  but 
with  high  reverence  for  what  he  held  right. 

He  was  always  made  welcome  like  a  brother  at  the 
home  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  and  they  were  true  and 
trusting  friends  to  the  last.  As  early  as  1835  his  writing  and 
speaking  for  non-resistance  and  anti-slavery  began,  and 
temperance  always  claimed  his  attention.  Marriage,  par- 
entage, the  sanctity  of  maternity,  the  laws  of  heredity,  he 
wrote  and  spoke  on  with  marked  effect.  Spiritualism  en- 
listed his  earnest  efforts  and  advocacy  in  later  years.  I 
well  remember  his  plain  and  strong  language,  startling  by 
its  directness  and  power,  and  softened  by  touches  of  tender 
feeling.  Once  at  North  Collins  Yearly  Meeting  in  Western 
New  York,  speaking  to  three  thousand  people  he  said  : 
"When  I  die,  as  you  call  it,  I  shall  begin  to  live.  I  am 
not  going  to  some  place  so  far  away  that  I  never  can  get 
back,  and  I  don't  expect  to  sing  psalms  and  shout  Halle- 
lujah forever.  I  don't  believe  God  is  selfish  enough,  or 
fond  enough  of  flattery,  to  want  me  or  anybody  to  spend 
an  eternity  in  that  way.  I  love  to  work  here,  and  to  grow 
in  wisdom  and  love,  and  I  want  a  chance  to  work  and 
grow  over  there.  I  shall  want  to  see  you,  for  I  love 
you.  I  shall  have  something  to  do  for  you.  I  shall  come 
back  and  help  knock  in  the  heads  of  your  whisky  barrels, 
and  get  the  tobacco  out  of  your  foul  mouths." 

His  best  work  was  with  audiences  of  plain  people  in  the 
country.  Once,  in  Northern  Indiana,  at  a  free  hall  on 
Brushy  Prairie,  with  a  full  hearing  of  farmers  and  their 
families,  he  had  laid  down  the  points  of  his  argument  in 
his  plain  way  and  then  stopped  and  asked  : 

"  Now,  friends,  don't  you  see  it.''"  and  from  all  quarters 
came  the  response  :  ' '  Yes,  yes. "  With  an  air  of  satisfac- 
tion, impossible  to  describe,  he  said  in  his  deep  and  friendly 
tones  :    "I  knew  you  would  see  it." 

This  characteristic  letter  calls  to  mind  like  words  I  have 
heard  from  him  : 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  95 

TO  THE  CAPE  COD  CAMP-MEETING  OF  SPIRITUALISTS  AT  HARWICH. 

Pawtucket,  R.  I.,  July  29th,  1870, 

"  President  of  Cape  Cod  Camp-meeting-  of  Spiritualists, 
— I  cannot  be  with  you  this  year.  Can  I  have  the  plat- 
form a  short  time .''  If  so,  I  will  say  a  word  with  pen  and 
ink.     This  is  my  speech  : — 

'  *  Cape  Cod, — a  hallowed  name  and  place  to  me.  Nearly 
forty  years  ago  I  lectured  there  first.  I  have  been  there 
often  since.  I  love  her  men,  women,  and  children.  For 
intelligence,  courteous  behavior,  and  frankness  and  heart- 
iness of  manner,  they  are  not  surpassed  by  any  part  of  our 
broad  land.  I  never  left  them  but  with  regret.  I  never 
returned  to  them  but  with  gladness.  My  memories  of  her 
sons  and  daughters,  in  their  homes  and  in  conventions, 
are  pleasant,  and  only  pleasant. 

"Man — his  nature,  relations,  and  destiny — is  my  one 
life-thought ;  his  elevation  and  happiness,  my  one  object. 
By  man  I  mean  woman  also.  The  body  is  not  the  man  ; 
it  is  but  an  incident  to  him.  The  death  of  the  body  is  not 
the  death  of  the  man  ;  nor  does  it  change  his  relations, 
obligations,  and  duties.  These  are  the  same  out  of  the 
body  as  in  it.  Down  with  all  gods,  doctrines,  religions, 
and  governments  that  tend  to  dishonor  and  degrade  man. 

"Creeds,  codes,  and  constitutions,  churches  and  gov- 
ernments, are  nonentities  when  they  conflict  with  inter- 
nal conviction.      *         *         * 

"From  the  high  and  holy  platform  of  Spiritualism,  we 
look  upon  the  great  battle  of  the  race  that  is  now  being 
fought  with  a  zeal  and  devotion  never  before  known. 
The  great  issue  is  between  God  in  man  and  the  animal  in 
man.  A  union  of  the  two  is  essential  to  existence  here; 
but  which  shall  have  the  mastery  }  To  answer  this  is  the 
mission  of  Spiritualism." 

At  about  seventy  years  of  age,  being  in  Pawtucket  at  the 
home  of  a  friend,  he  went  into  his  carpenter's  shop  to  talk 


o6  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

\\i[\\  him  as  he  worked,  sat  down  at  the  end  of  his  bench, 
and  soon  said:  "Come  and  hold  me  up."  At  once  a 
chano-e  was  seen,  and  in  a  moment  he  passed  quietly 
awayt  His  friend  W.  L.  Garrison  and  others  spoke  at  the 
funeral. 

CHARLES  LENOX  REMOND. 

"What  tho'  these  eyes  may  ne'er  behold  the  time? 
A  coming  age  shall  hail  the  Jubilee, 
When  men  of  every  caste,  complexion,  clime. 
Shall  burst  their  chains,  and  stand  in  dignity  sublime." 

W.  L.  Garrison. 

Forty  years  ago  I  attended  a  large  anti-slavery  conven- 
tion at  Upton,  Worcester  County,  IMass.     The  discussion 
turned  on  the  interdependence  and  influence  on  each  other 
of  the  Southern  cotton  planters,  and  the  merchants  and 
manufacturers  of  New  England,   who  "  stutfed  cotton  in 
their  ears, "  and  would  not  hear  the  abolitionists.     Through 
all  Charles  Lenox  Remond  sat  quiet,  a  flash  of  his  eye  or 
a  hot  glow  of  his  swarthy  cheek  now  and  then  showing 
his  feelings.     At  last  he  sprang  to  his  feet,  stepped  forward, 
and  began   to    speak  with  slow  deliberation  yet  strong 
emotion,  his  tones  rising  and  quickening  as  he  went  on. 
His  first  words  were :    "What  we  have  heard  from  Mr. 
Garrison  and  others  touching  the  ties  of  cotton  that  bind 
men  in  New  England  is  all  true.      I  am  glad  it  has  been 
said.     But  there  is  something  beneath  and  behind  all  this. 
It  is  the  everlasting  cry,  nigger  !    nigger  !  !    nigger  !  !  !  " 
And  then  came,  for  a  half  hour,  words,  ringing  like  the 
bugle  blast,  flashing  and  rattling  like  sharp  lightning  and 
quick  thunder,  with  the  musical  voice  melting  now  and 
then  into  tones  of  saddest  pity  and  tenderest  entreaty,  to 
burst  forth  again  with  its  full  force  of  warning  and  rebuke. 
His  frame  trembled  with  emotion,  the  flashing  eye  smote 
and  pierced  us,  and  the  echoes  of  that  resonant  voice  came 
back  from  every  corner  of  the  great  room  as  he  closed  and 


UrWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  97 

sat  down  exhausted  amidst  a  silence  that  might  be  felt,  and 
in  a  moment  came  the  reaction  in  an  outburst  of  applause. 
Many  times  I  have  heard  this  impassioned  orator  speak 
in  that  way,  the  wrong  and  contumely  heaped  on  his  race, 
stirring  his  soul  most  deeply. 

In  the  year  1836,  I  think,  a  Committee  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts House  of  Representatives  gave  public  hearing  to 
the'  petitioners  for  the  repeal  of  "the  black  laws,"  and  the 
political  rights — soon  granted — of  the  colored  citizens. 
Samuel  E.  Sewall,  an  eminent  lawyer,  Wendell  Phillips, 
and  C.  L.  Remond  were  to  speak  for  the  petitioners,  and 
a  large  audience  met  at  the  State  House  to  hear  the  ad- 
dresses, among  whom  was  a  Southern  planter,  an  intelli- 
gent and  cultivated  man.  He  happened  to  find  a  seat  near 
Mrs.  Maria  W.  Chapman,  of  Boston,  an  eminent  anti- 
slavery  woman.  Looking  at  the  speakers  he  said  to  some 
one  near:  "What  can  that  black  fellow  say.?"  Mrs. 
Chapman  heard  him,  and  turned  to  say  :  "I  think,  sir, 
you  will  find  he  has  something  worth  saying. "  He  bowed 
politely  and  replied  :  "  I  shall  hear  him  fairly,  Madam." 
Sewell  opened  with  his  legal  argument,  Phillips  followed 
with  an  eloquent  appeal,  the  Southerner  listening  with 
marked  interest.  Remond  came  next,  the  occasion  one 
to  stir  his  soul  ;  that  hall  rang  with  the  clear  tones  of  his 
voice,  and  he  held  legislators  and  audience  spell-bound 
in  wondering  silence,  the  planter  most  surprised  of  all. 
At  the  close  Mrs.  Chapman  turned  to  him  and  asked  : 
"  What  do  you  think  of  the  colored  man  .?  "  His  hearty 
answer  was  :  "  Madam,  the  black  man  wears  the 
feather  !  " 

Mr,  Remond  was  descended  from  a  free  ancestry  from 
the  West  Indies.  He  was  of  lithe  and  active  frame  and 
nervous  temperament,  singularly  graceful  and  courteous 
in  manners,  and  fastidiously  neat  and  tasteful  in  person 
and  dress,  with  a  refinement  that  avoided  all  garish  show. 
He  had  times  of  moody  despondency,  the  chafings  of  a 

7 


pS  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

high  spirit  under  the  cruel  prejudice  that  clouded  his  life  ; 
but  when  the  cloud  lifted  off  he  was  a  delightful  compan- 
ion, and  lent  new  grace  to  any  company.  Born  and  at 
home  in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  he  once  told  me  how  he 
found  himself  ill  at  ease  as  a  boy,  among  the  rude  and 
ignorant  colored  children,  and  how  the  white  boys  would 
not  treat  him  decently,  but  he  made  the  happy  discovery 
that  the  horses  in  his  father's  stable  reciprocated  good 
treatment,  and  so  he  cultivated  their  friendship.  This  led 
to  a  great  fondness  for  horses,  great  skill  in  their  manage- 
ment, and  the  owning  of  beautiful  animals  that  no  white 
man  in  Salem  ever  passed  on  the  highway. 

He  visited  England  and  Ireland,  and  was  treated  with 
marked  attention.  He  told  me  that  only  once  while 
abroad,  did  he  see  anything  to  remind  him  of  any  distinc- 
tion based  on  color.  A  party  of  friends  in  London,  were 
visiting  the  Bank  of  England,  and  being  shown  through 
its  great  vaults  and  many  rooms,  when  he  noticed  some 
of  the  English  attendants  looking  curiously  at  them  and 
whispering  among  themselves.  His  quick  suspicion  led 
him  to  think  his  dark  face  was  their  mark.  At  last  one  of 
them  called  him  aside  and  said:  "Excuse  me  sir,  but 
may  I  ask  who  that  lady  in  your  party  is  " — pointing  to  a 
lady  of  Quaker  lineage.  The  question  was  respectfully 
asked,  and  he  replied  :  "That  is  Miss  Neal  from  Philadel- 
phia," when  his  querist  said  :  "Thank  you.  We  were 
all  very  anxious  to  know,  for  she  resembles  our  Queen 
Victoria  very  much." 

His  last  years  were  spent  in  Boston,  where  he  was 
highly  esteemed  by  a  choice  circle  of  friends. 

GEORGE    THOMPSON, 

In  the  early  anti-slavery  days,  about  1835,  an  eloquent 
Englishman,  who  had  caught  from  his  friend  Garrison,  in 
London,  the  noble  enthusiasm  and  earnest  depth  of 
conviction  of  the  pioneer  aboliti(Miists,  came  to  this  coun- 
try as  a  lecturer.      His  ability    and  power  of  speech  and 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  99 

eminent  personal  character  called  out  large  audiences,  and 
stirred  the  wrath  of  the  "gentlemen  of  property  and 
standing,"  in  Church  and  State,  who  stood  behind  the 
vulgar  mob  that  did  their  foul  work.  Those  were  the  days 
when  an  eminent  Baptist  clergyman,  in  South  Carolina, 
Rev.  Wm.  S.  Plummer,  D.  D.,  said  :  "  If  the  abolitionists 
will  set  the  country  in  a  blaze,  it  is  but  fair  that  they 
should  have  the  first  warming  of  the  fire,"  and  Boston  men 
were  plenty  who  would  obey  Carolina  and  stir  the  fire. 
Mr.  Thompson  was  a  reformer  at  home,  a  friend  of 
England's  toiling  people,  and  afterwards  a  member  of 
Parliament,  from  the  Tower  Hamlets  working  men's  con- 
stituency in  London.  In  this  country  he  never  advocated 
bloodshed  or  violence,  or  British  interference,  came  as 
agent  for  no  foreign  Society,  but  spoke  plainly  in  warn- 
ing and  rebuke  of  our  sins  in  the  matter  of  slavery,  in  the 
spirit  and  method  of  Whittier's  words  to  Virginia  : 

"We  wage  no  war,  we  lift  no  hand, 
We  fling  no  torch  within 
The  fire-damps  of  the  quaking  mine 
Beneath  your  soil  of  sin." 

Yet  he  was  mobbed,  in  Boston  and  vicinity,  with  such 
vindictive  ferocity  that  his  friends  felt  obliged  to  hide  him 
and  put  him  secretly  on  board  a  ship  bound  across  the 
Atlantic. 

I  have  seen,  at  Mr.  Garrison's  house  in  Boston,  one  of 
the  anonymous  handbills  flung  about  the  city  streets  at 
the  time,  with  these  words  printed  in  ominous  black 
letters  : 

$100  REWARD 

FOR  THE  NOTORIOUS  BRITISH  EMISSARY, 

GEORGE  THOMPSON, 

DEAD  OR  ALIVE  I 

He  visited  this  country  again  in  1848,  spent  some  years, 
spoke  to    large  audiences,    was  still  hated  by   the   pro- 


lOO  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

slavery  element,  but  friends  watched  his  path  and  immi- 
nent personal  danger  had  gone  by. 

During  those  years  I  met  him  and  heard  him  speak 
often.  Of  commanding  personal  presence,  he  combined 
a  graceful  ease  like  that  of  Wendell  Phillips,  with  an  im- 
passioned and  concentrated  force  like  the  sweep  of  a  strong 
wind,  and  his  hearers  were  charmed  to  tenderness  and 
sympathy,  and  then  would  hold  their  breaths  until  the 
whirlwind  rushed  by  as  his  moods  changed. 

After  a  speech  he  would  go  to  his  room,  take  a  bath, 
have  a  cup  of  choice  tea,  which  he  always  carried  with 
him,  and  then  come  into  a  waiting  group  of  friends  one 
of  the  most  genial  companions,  fascinating  in  conver- 
sation, an  admirable  story-teller,  brilliant  and  animated, 
until  past  midnight. 

I  well  remember  an  evening  in  Rochester,  New  York, 
in  which  he  told  of  his  journey  from  Calcutta  to  Delhi, 
and  his  interviews  at  the  last  named  city  with  the  great 
Mogul  and  the  Begum,  his  wife. 

Eight  hundred  miles,  up  the  Ganges,  and  across  plains 
and  through  forest  and  jungle  where  tigers  haunted,  he 
was  carried  in  a  palankin,  its  poles  on  the  shoulders  of 
four  men,  others  with  torches  and  baggage  in  front  and 
rear,  journeying  only  at  night,  resting  in  bungalows  in 
the  hot  days,  with  natives  sprinkling  floor  and  walls,  with 
cool  water,  and  taking  five  weeks  for  the  strange  trip. 
Then  came  processions,  with  elephants  and  howdahs  and 
caparisoned  steeds,  an  oriental  palace,  visits  to  the  great 
audience  hall,  with  its  inscription,  wrought  in  gold  on 
the  painted  wall,  in  Arabic  :  "This  is  the  palace  of 
delight."  Then  came  business  of  pu])lic  moment,  and 
then  the  return  over  the  same  route,  watching  stars  and 
sky  as  he  laid  in  his  palankin  hearing  the  low  voices  of  his 
Hindoo  bearers  and  attendants,  and  thinking  of  home  and 
England  as  though  in  another  planet. 

It  was  like  a  chapter  from  the  Arabian  nights. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  loi 

Giving  a  course  of  lectures  in  Rochester  he  was  the  guest 
of  Isaac  and  Amy  Post,  while  the  "Rochester  rapping-s, '' 
were  stirring  the  air  with  new  wonder.  Expressing  a 
wish  to  know  something  of  the  matter,  Isaac  said  :  "Thee 
can  go  with  us  any  time,"  and  a  night  was  soon  fixed  on. 
At  the  house  where  the  seance  was  to  be  held  were 
George  Thompson,  Isaac  and  Amy  Post,  Sarah  D.  Fish, 
my  wife's  mother,  and  three  or  four  personal  friends,  with 
Mrs.  Leah  Brown,  {?iee  Fox,  now  Mrs.  Underhill  of  New 
York,)  as  the  medium.  All  sat  around  the  table  in  the 
lighted  room,  and  in  fit  time  Isaac  Post  said  to  Mr.  Thomp- 
son :  "Ask  questions  as  we  do,"  and  he  asked  :  "Are  any 
Hindoo  friends  present  to  say  something  to  me.?"  The 
raps  came  to  say  yes,  and  call  for  the  alphabet,  when  a 
gentleman  wrote  down,  as  they  were  rapped  at  in  response 
to  the  repeated  alphabetic  letters,  the  following,  d-w-a-r-k- 
a-n-a-t-h-t-a-g-o-r-e-e.  Mr.  Thompson  and  all  the  company 
thought  and  said  that  this  jumble  of  letters  had  no  mean- 
ing, but  he  took  the  paper  in  his  hand,  took  in  at  a  glance 
their  connection,  and  exclaimed  :  "  DwarkanathTagoree  ! 
My  God  is  it  you.?"  to  which  came  emphatic  response,  a 
valued  Hindoo  friend,  who  was  not  in  his  mind,  and 
whose  name  was  not  known,  thus  manifesting  his 
presence. 

For  a  half-hour  of  deep  interest  he  asked  questions  and 
all  the  answers  he  said  were  correct.  At  the  close  he 
asked:  "Where  did  we  meet  last.?"  and  the  reply  was 
rapped  out :  "Regent  Street,  London,"  with  the  right 
number  given.  "What  mood  were  we  in.?  "was  then 
asked,  and  the  word  "Anger  "  came  in  response.  "  That 
is  true,"  said  Mr.  Thompson,  "  we  disagreed,  and  his 
illness  prevented  our  settling  our  trouble."  Then  he 
asked:  "  Do  you  still  feel  angry.?  "and  the  prompt  an- 
swer came  :  "No,  dear  friend,  in  the  light  of  this  higher 
life  anger  dies  away." 

That  half-hour   made   a   strong   impression.       In  after 


I02  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

years,  with  more  experience  and   thought,  he   became  a 
lifelong  Spiritualist. 

GERRITT    SMITH. 
"  Thine  to  work  as  well  as  pray. 
Clearing  thorny  wrongs  away, 
Plucking  up  the  weeds  of  sin, 
Letting  heaven's  warm  sunlight  in." 

Leaving  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  at  Canastota, 
twenty  miles  east  of  Syracuse,  the  mail  carriage  takes 
one  southward  nine  miles  to  Peterboro.  Upward  leads 
the  road  ;  winding  up  the  hills,  following  the  course  of  a 
foaming  mountain  stream,  getting  glimpses  of  a  broad 
landscape  of  farms  and  forest  north  to  the  verge  of  Oneida 
lake — which  shines  like  a  sea  of  molten  silver  in  the  dis- 
tance, passing  dairy  farms  and  rocky  gorges,  the  village  is 
reached — a  thousand  feet  above  the  starting  place,  where 
the  air  is  sweet  and  pure  in  summer,  and  the  wintry  winds 
have  their  own  wild  way.  Around  the  pleasant  village 
green,  with  its  grass  and  trees,  are  the  homes  of  some  four 
hundred  people,  and  on  every  side,  hill  and  dale  and 
dairy  farms.  On  the  north  side  of  the  green,  in  an  ample 
space  of  lawn  and  old  forest  trees,  stood  the  family  home, 
a  spacious  three-story  wood  house,  with  broad  hall  through 
the  centre,  and  great  pillars  reaching  up  to  its  roof  along 
the  front  piazzas.  A  garden,  some  acres  in  extent,  abun- 
dant in  useful  vegetables  and  beautiful  in  flowers  and 
trees,  reaches  along  either  side  of  a  swift,  clear  brook. 
For  twenty'five  years,  I  visited  that  home  occasionally, 
speaking  on  Sundays  in  the  plain  little  free  church  across 
the  green,  meeting  prized  friends  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
enjoying  the  society  of  Gerritt  Smith,  his  admirable  wife, 
and  their  family  and  friends.  It  was  a  hospitable  house, 
its  doors  open  to  many  kinds  of  people,  from  the  accom- 
plished and  elegant  to  plain  and  homely  men  and  women, 
coming  to  attend  some  reform  convention,  or  old  neigh- 
bors and  prized  friends.  His  acquaintance  had  wide 
range,  and  he  always  cherished  a  warm,  neighborly  feeling 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  103 

for  the  dwellers  on  the  farms  around  who  had  interest  in 
reforms  and  were  devoted  to  relig-ious  ideas  sacred  to 
him.  His  tall  and  stately  person  and  fine  face  beaming; 
with  good  feeling,  gave  a  princely  air  to  his  courtesy, 
bestowed  impartially  on  all. 

In  early  life  a  believer  in  the  prevalent  orthodox  the- 
ology, his  views  changed,  but  he  always  held  in  reverent 
respect  all  sincere  opinions.  Orthodox  and  heterodox 
alike  were  his  welcome  guests,  and  there  was  frankness  of 
speech,  without  controversy.  I  remember  once  at  break- 
fast, when  several  visitors  were  present,  I  sat  at  his  left 
hand,  and  a  lady  with  whom  I  had  enjoyed  some  interest- 
ing talk  on  his  right.  The  conversation  turned  on  the 
narrow  and  bitter  feelings  so  often  manifested  on  religious 
subjects,  and  he  said:  "Here  am  I,  suspected  of  being 
heterodox,  yet  quite  orthodox  after  my  fashion  ;  here  is  ]\Ir. 
Stebbins  whom  some  people  think  a  sort  of  pagan  ;  and 
here  is  this  Catholic  lady  on  my  right.  We  are  all  good 
friends,  and  if  that  was  the  way  of  the  whole  world  it 
would  be  a  blessed  gain  of  true  religion."'  His  natural 
reverence  was  deep  and  earnest,  and,  while  he  could  plainly 
criticise  error,  he  never  showed,  or  felt,  contempt  for  what 
others  held  sacred.  Each  morning  the  family  met  in  the 
sitting-room,  and  when  all  was  quiet  he  would  rise  and 
repeat  some  hymn  from  memory,  which  all  who  chose 
would  join  in  singing  ;  then  he  would  repeat  Scripture 
passages  in  the  same  way,  the  clear  and  deep  tones  of  a 
fine  voice,  adding  to  their  effect,  and  his  brief  prayer  would 
follow,  tender  and  beautiful,  "the  soul's  sincere  desire  " 
for  spiritual  light  and  strength.      It  was  good  to  be  there. 

Mrs.  Smith,  at  that  morning  hour,  always  dressed  in 
white,  her  winter  garb  of  some  fine  woolen  stuff  of  the 
same  spotless  hue,  a  single  fresh  rose,  worn  on  her  bosom. 
— making  contrast  of  color  with  her  dark  hair  and  white 
robes.  Such  a  dress  always  seemed  fit  and  appropriate 
beyond  any  other.     It  was  her  own   choice,  and  seemed 


I04  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

the  outward  expression  of  her  inner  life.  In  a  shaded 
nook  in  the  garden  was  her  summer-house — a  rustic  roof 
of  bark  and  twigs  just  large  enough  to  cover  her  table 
and  a  half  dozen  chairs  ;  with  grass  and  flowers,  the  mur- 
muring brook  and  the  great  old  trees  around.  With  her 
favorite  books  she  spent  many  hours  there.  In  the  cor- 
ner of  the  drawing-room  was  her  rocking-chair  and  work- 
basket  and  a  stand  for  books,  works  on  Spiritualism 
usually  among  them,  "Anna's  crazy  corner,"  as  her 
lover-husband  sometimes  laughingly  called  it. 

He  was  a  sincere  believer  in  free  trade,  basing  his  sup- 
port of  that  policy  on  the  broad  ground  of  universal  phil- 
anthropy and  fraternity. 

He  was  greatly  occupied  in  practical  reforms.  Tem- 
perance had  his  lifelong  advocacy.  From  the  day  when 
he  invited  an  anti-slavery  convention — good  and  true  men 
mobbed  out  of  Utica — to  meet  in  Peterboro,  and  opened 
home  and  church  to  them,  he  was  an  abolitionist,  with- 
out fear  and  above  reproach.  His  courage,  his  generous 
help,  his  wise  counsel  and  eloquent  speech  were  of  great 
value.  His  peculiar  and  valuable  way  to  reach  his  friends 
and  others,  was  the  publishing,  in  large  quantities,  of  his 
advancing  thoughts  on  reform  and  religion  in  form  of 
letters  to  leading  men,  or  addresses,  in  leaflets  or  pamph- 
lets or  newspaper  articles,  to  be  widely  circulated.  While 
he  loved  whatever  truths  the  sects  held,  his  own  feelings 
can  be  well  expressed  in  Emerson's  lines  : 

"  I  like  a  church  ;  I  hke  a  cowl ; 
I  love  a  prophet  of  the  soul ; 
And  on  my  heart  monastic  aisles, 
Fail  like  sweet  strains  or  pensive  smiles, 
Yet  not  for  all  his  faith  can  see, 
Would  I  that  cowled  churchman  be." 

I  found  him  diligent,  sagacious  and  successful  in  busi- 
ness affairs,  and  giving  sums,  large  or  small,  with  care- 
ful judgment  as  well  as  benevolent  spirit.  Thus  he  could 
make  donations  reaching  many  thousands,  and  yet  have 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  105 

more  to  give.  His  mission — performed  unconsciously, 
and  therefore  all  the  better — was  to  teach,  by  lifelong 
example,  that  persons  of  ability  and  wealth  should  devote 
their  talents  and  means,  in  a  spirit  of  religious  conse- 
cration, to  the  freedom  and  uplifting  of  the  people,  and 
should  have  "the  courage  of  their  convictions  "  amidst 
the  enervating  influences  of  outward  abundance  and  ease. 

ABBY    KELLEY    FOSTER. 

One  keen  winter  evening,  fifty  years  ago,  I  was  one  of  a 
group  of  a  half  dozen  or  more  persons,  sitting  around  the 
stove  in  a  village  store  in  Massachusetts.  This  group 
was  a  sort  of  informal  club  of  "stove  warmers"  met  to 
discuss  the  affairs  of  neighborhood  and  nation,  and  had 
its  opinions  on  matters  of  moment, — a  sort  of  unwritten 
code  which  one  of  them  jocosely  called  "stove-pipe 
law."  One  article  of  the  code  was  that  abolitionists  were 
fanatics,  tainted  with  infidelity  and  quite  uncanny.  On 
this  evening  one  of  the  company  was  just  home  from 
Boston,  and  said  :  "I  went  to  an  abolition  meetin' and 
saw  Abby  Kelley,"  whereat  he  was  asked:  "How  did 
she  look.?"  and  answered:  "Well,  she's  a  good-lookin' 
woman,  not  a  bit  like  the  peaked-faced  old  maid  I  ex- 
pected to  see.  She  talked  well,  but  she's  hard  on  some  of 
our  big  men,  and  she  don't  spare  the  preachers  a  bit. "  He 
was  a  "forehanded  man,"  a  church  member,  and  was 
reputed  to  know  a  good  deal.  No  comments  followed, 
the  smoke  curled  up  around  the  stove-pipe,  while  silence 
reigned  for  a  brief  time,  and  the  talk  was  of  cattle,  and 
queer  old  folks,  as  though  the  "abolition  meetin' "  and 
the  woman  lecturer  were  about  on  par  with  the  turnips 
that  Deacon  Graves  fed  his  cattle  on,  or  the  old  cloak 
that  Aunt  Tenty  Dibbins  had  worn  to  meeting  every 
cold  Sunday  for  thirty  years,  and  had  just  cast  aside  to 
come  forth  arrayed  in  the  shining  glory  of  a  new  black 
silk. 


I06  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

I  fearlessly  confess  now,  the  lapse  of  a  half  century 
makiny  it  safe  to  do  so,  that  I  then  had  doubts  about  this 
article  of  the  old  "stove-pipe  law"  as  to  the  abolitionists, 
as  did  some  others,  but  we  waited  in  prudent  silence. 

A  few  years  after  I  fell  in  with  these  abolitionists,  came 
under  the  sway  of  their  "spell  of  light  and  power,"  and 
met  Abby  Kelley, — a  devoted  woman  consecrated  to  the 
service  of  the  slaves,  giving  her  life  to  the  help  of  her 
abused  and  outraged  sisters  who  could  not  speak  for 
themselves.  Never  was  consecration  and  self-abnegation 
more  entire  and  unreserved.  A  favorite  teacher  in  a 
school  in  Lynn  under  the  charge  of  the  Orthodox  Friends, 
a  member  of  that  society,  graceful  and  dignified  in  per- 
sonal presence  and  manners,  winning  many  friends,  she 
left  all  to  go  out  as  an  anti-slavery  lecturer,  against  the 
feelings  and  advice  of  many  of  the  leaders  in  her  Society, 
"facing  a  frowning  world'' in  days  when  a  woman 
speaking  as  she  did  was  followed  by  vile  suspicions,  and 
persecuted,  not  by  the  vulgar  of  mean  estate,  so  much 
as  by  those  high  in  social  life,  pillars  in  church  and 
state. 

Strong  in  argument,  plain  and  searching  in  warning 
and  rebuke,  tender  in  pathetic  appeal,  persistent  in  will, 
fervent  in  unfailing  faith, her  voice  ringing  out  clear  as  a 
silver  bell,  and  easily  heard  by  thousands  in  the  open  air, 
her  public  work  was  very  effective. 

A  minghng  of  sisterly  and  womanly  feeling,  noble  dig- 
nity and  high  purity,  won  friends  and  gained  her  rever- 
ent respect.  I  have  known  pro-slavery  preachers  rash 
enough  to  criticise  her.  They  were  always  fully  heard, 
and  then  she  would  bury  them  under  an  avalanche  of 
terrible  facts  mingled  with  Bible  texts,  quote  the  tender 
passages  of  the  New  Testament,  tell  of  the  spirit  of  the 
Nazarene,  and  hold  them  up  as  the  allies  and  helpers  of 
proud   and   wicked   oppressors    until    they   were  utterly 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  107 

discomfited   and   ashamed,   glad    to   escape,    and    never 
venturing  a  second  trial. 

The  honest  and  faithful,  of  whatever  creed,  always 
had  due  honor.  "Will  you  help  break  the  bonds  of  the 
oppressed  and  let  the  captive  go  free  1  "  was  her  test 
question. 

In  Worcester,  Mass.,  in  1850,  she  attended  the  first 
woman-suffrage  convention  in  New  England,  and  was 
called  out  to  speak.  Seeing  the  comparative  ease  of 
public-speaking  for  women,  and  the  personal  respect  paid 
to  those  present,  she  briefly  alluded  to  her  own  trials  in 
earlier  days,  and  said,  in  such  a  way  that  many  eyes 
filled  with  tears  :  "  Bleeding  feet,  my  sisters,  have  marked 
the  paths  that  are  strewn  with  roses  for  you."  In  Ohio, 
at  a  grove  meeting,  a  young  man  led  me  aside  to  a 
fence  corner  and  very  earnestly  asked  :  "Does  Abby 
Kelley  believe  in  marriage.?"  I  said,  "Really  I  never 
asked  her,"  and  a  sad  look  came  over  his  face.  I  wick- 
edly enjoyed  his  grief,  but  soon  relented  and  said  :  "All 
I  know  is  that  she  told  me  lately  that  she  expected  soon  to 
marry  Stephen  S.  Foster,"  and  it  was  pleasant  to  see  the 
good  soul  go  away  relieved  and  happy.  Such  power  had 
prejudice,  and  such  power  it  yet  has. 

ABIGAIL    AND    LYDIA    MOTT. 

"  No  laurel  wreath,  no  waving  palm 
No  royal  robes  are  ours; 
But  evermore,  serene  and  calm, 
We  use  life's  noblest  powers." 

Some  forty  years  ago  two  sisters  left  their  Quaker 
home  in  Eastern  New  York  to  win  support  by  their  cour- 
ageous industry.  They  had  good  education  of  the  plain 
country  sort  ;  good  home  training  in  useful  work  ;  good 
Quaker  teaching,  which  led  them  to  follow  the  "inner 
light,"  and  be  true  to  the  right  "  through  evil  report  and 
through  good  report."  They  found  their  way  to  Albany, 
and  opened  a  gentlemen's  furnishing  store,  long  known 


Io8  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

for  the  excellence  of  its  honest  and  skilful  work.  Their 
principal  capital  was  character,  skill,  and  persistent  effort. 
Dependent  on  the  public  for  patronage  they  never 
swerved  a  hair's-breadth  from  what  they  held  right  to 
gain  the  popular  favor.  With  their  nature  and  training 
they  could  not.  They  sold  their  goods,  but  never  their 
principles.  Obey  conscience  before  all  else,  it  is  the 
voice  of  God  in  the  soul,  was  written  in  their  hearts  and 
was  the  gospel  of  their  lives.  They  were  social,  cordial 
with  their  friends,  true  as  steel,  clear-sighted  and  intelli- 
gent, not  beautiful,  yet  attractive,  their  words  and  acts 
forceful  from  their  weight  of  character.  Their  integrity 
and  thoroughness  won  and  kept  customers  ;  their  un- 
swerving allegiance  to  duty  drew  a  goodly  company  of 
the  best  persons  around  them,  and  these  friends  were 
held  fast  as  by  hooks  of  steel.  They  soon  became 
known,  and  when  they  felt  that  they  must  take  active 
part  in  the  anti-slavery  movement  they  became  notorious. 
To  be  an  abolitionist  then  was  to  be  branded  as  fanatic, 
infidel,  and  traitor,  to  lose  social  caste  and  personal 
reputation,  but  all  this  they  counted  as  dross  in  compari- 
son with  the  golden  worth  of  freedom's  sacred  cause. 

They  would  rent  a  large  hall,  advertise  Garrison  or 
Pillsbury,  or  some  like  Abolition  fanatic,  entertain  them 
at  their  home,  go  with  them  to  the  lecture-room  through 
sneering  crowds  or  angry  mobs,  and  laugh  over  their 
coffee  the  next  morning  as  they  read  the  caricatures  and 
sneers  of  the  leading  newpapers.  Have  women  no 
moral  courage  }  They  helped  woman-suffrage,  too,  when 
that  shared  the  unpopularity  of  anti-slavery,  and  walked 
cheerfully  upright  under  this  added  load.  Never  obtru- 
sive or  needlessly  antagonistic  they  stood  in  the  front 
with  serene  self-poise  and  heroic  cheer,  and  kept  that 
place  through  years  of  trials.  Their  home-like  rooms 
over  their  store  were  known  far  and  near.  How  strength- 
ening and  delightful  was  their  hospitality  !    What  abun- 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  109 

dant  cheer  and  simple  life,  shared  with  no  apolog-y,  but 
freely  and  with  heartfelt  cordiality !  Gentlemen  finely 
bred,  like  Edmund  Quincy  and  Wendell  Phillips,  felt  it  a 
great  joy  to  be  there,  and  plain  wayfarers  in  the  rugyed 
paths  of  unpopular  reforms  found  rest  there.  Susan  B. 
Anthony  loved  the  Mott  sisters  greatly.  She  found 
strength  and  wisdom  in  their  fast  friendship,  and  that 
rest  and  peace  in  their  loving  sympathy  which  the  true- 
hearted  need  and  crave. 

Dark  hours  came  when  the  bravest  and  most  eminent 
men  went  to  these  remarkable  women  for  counsel  and 
for  courage.  Thurlow  Weed  was  their  frequent  visitor, 
and  brought  with  him  his  most  sagacious  friends. 
Measures  of  high  moment  and  great  National  importance, 
before  and  during  the  death-struggle  of  the  slave  power 
which  we  call  the  civil  war,  had  their  start  in  suggestions 
made  in  conversations  in  the  quiet  rooms  of  these 
Quaker  sisters.  They  lived  to  see  and  feel  the  turn  of 
the  tide,  to  be  held  in  respectful  reverence  by  those  who 
had  formerly  maligned  and  abused  them  as  mischievous 
Abolition  agitators — a  change  so  great  that  none  can 
realize  it  save  those  who  have  passed  through  it. 

Abigail  Mott's  earthly  life  ended  first,  and  Lydia  fol- 
lowed her  at  the  ripe  age  of  near  three  score  and  ten.  A 
letter  from  William  Lloyd  Garrison  reached  her  on  her 
bed  in  the  last  sickness,  and  she  read  it  with  a  clear 
voice,  but  with  eyes  full  of  tears.  A  few  days  after  it 
was  read  at  her  funeral  at  the  request  of  the  writer,  and 
shows  his  close  and  appreciative  friendship.  Mrs.  Phcbc 
Willis,  of  Battle  Creek,  Mich.,  a  sister,  kindly  allowed 
me  to  copy  this  admirable  letter,  which  might  as  well 
apply  to  Abigail  as  to  Lydia,  so  like  were  they,  and  held 
in  such  like  esteem  by  the  author.  It  is  a  beautiful 
tribute  to  the  vi^orth  of  a  true  woman,  and  opens  to  us 
the  lesson  of  a  life  full  of  persistent  effort,  noble  faithful- 
ness and  gracious  tenderness. 


no 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


LETTER  OF  WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

Boston,  Mass.,   June  22,    1875.— My  very   dear  friend, 
Lydia    Mott:    A   letter   from    dear  Mrs.   Jones   (another 
sister)  to  my  son  Frank  brings  the  sad  intelligence  that 
the  disease  which   you   have  struggled  against  so  long 
and   so   persistently   threatens  a  fatal  termination    at   a 
period    not    distant,   but  she   bears    witness    to  the  re- 
markable  brightness    and    cheerfulness    of  your    spirit 
through   all  your  sufferings,    thus    "dispelling,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  gloomy  atmosphere  of  a  sick-room."     This 
you  have  never  failed  to  exhibit,  in  sickness  or  in  health, 
no  matter  in   what  form  trials  may  have  come.     Ever 
since  our  acquaintance  I  have  seen  in  you  such  a  com- 
bination of  admirable   qualities  as  is  rarely   found,   en- 
titling you  to  the  highest  respect  and  the  noblest  appre- 
ciation.    The  circle  of  those  whom  I  highly  esteem  and 
honor  is  a  large  one,    including  many   on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic,  but  among  them  all  it  would  be  diflicult  for 
me  to  name  one  that  should  take  precedence  of  yourself 
in  modesty   of  deportment,    purity  of  heart,   gentleness, 
yet  energy  of  spirit,  moral  courage  of  the  grandest  type, 
self-abneo-ation  and  self  sacrifice  in  the  cause  of  benev- 
olence  and   philanthropy.      Yours    has    been    a    steady 
adherence  to    principle,    a   quick    discernment   between 
genuine   and   spurious    religion,   fearless  rebuke  of  evil 
doers  of  the  first  rank,    unfaltering  faith  in   the   ultimate 
triumph  of  the  right,   and  a  never-failing  hopefulness  in 
the  darkest  hours  of  the  conflict.     You  have  had  a  vital 
and  active  sympathy  with  the  poor  and  needy,  especially 
with  the  millions  now  set  free  from  cruel  bondage  at  the 
South,  to  whose  deliverance  you  devoted  your  time  and 
strength    and   substance    in    the  face  of  a  perverse  and 
bitterly  hostile  public  sentiment,   thereby  causing  your- 
self  to   be    regarded   as  a  pestilent  intermeddler  and  a 
fanatical  disturber  of  the  peace. 

You  were  indeed  an   Abolitionist   of  the  Abolitionists, 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  1 1 1 

brave,  vig-ilant  uncompromising,  well-balanced,  clear  in 
vision,  sound  in  judgment,  a  discerner  of  spirits,  a  many- 
sided  reformer. 

What  an  isolation  was  yours  for  long  years  from  the 
courtesies  and  enjoyments  of  social  interchange  and 
the  sympathies  of  the  community  in  which  you  dwelt ! 
But  it  gave  you  no  uneasiness  or  regret,  save  only  as 
it  indicated  how  all-pervading  was  the  slave-holding 
sentiment  of  the  country.  Happily  you  have  lived  to 
see  every  yoke  broken,  to  witness  an  entire  change  in 
the  public  estimate  of  such  labors  and  testimonies  as 
your  own  to  have  all  reproach  taken  away. 

And  now,  it  appears,  the  hour  draws  nigh  in  your  case 
for  "the  silver  cord  to  be  loosened  and  the  golden  bowl 
broken."  A  happy  release  it  will  be  from  all  the  pains 
of  mortality.  I  am  sure  you  are  ready  for  translation, 
doubting  nothing,  fearing  nothing,  trusting  in  the  infinite 
love  in  another  sphere  of  existence  as  you  have  in  this, 
and  clearly  perceiving  that 

"  Death  is  the  crown  of  hfe  : 
It  wounds  to  cure  ;  we  fall,  we  rise,  we  reign  ! 

Spring  from  our  fetters,  fasten  in  the  skies. 
This  King  of  Terror  is  the  Prince  of  Peace." 
Should  you  precede  me,  my  dear  friend,  take  with  you 
the  renewed  assurance  of  my  profound  regards  and  my 
best  wishes  for  your  future  welfare  and  happiness  to 
whatever  sphere  you  may  be  assigned.  Hereafter  I  trust 
again  to  take  you  by  the  hand  and  to  join  the  loved  ones 
who  have  gone  before.  Affectionately  and  gratefully 
yours, 

William  Lloyd  Garrison. 


112  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


ABIGAIL    P.    ELA. 

"The  heart  ever  open  to  Charity's  claim, 
Unmoved  from  its  purpose  by  censure  or  blame, 
While  vainly  alike  on  her  eye  and  her  ear, 
Fell  the  scorn  of  the  heartless,  the  jesting  and  jeer." 

During  our  visit  to  Washington  in  1867-8,  my  wife  and 
myself  first  knew  Mrs.  Ela.  My  first  memory  of  her  is 
as  we  met  in  the  "  old  Capital  prison  "  block,  a  row  of 
solid  old  brick  houses  across  the  capital  grounds,  east- 
ward, used  as  a  prison  in  the  civil  war  and  since  put  in 
order  for  dwellings.  In  a  large  room  on  the  second  floor, 
the  mas:nificent  dome  and  the  noble  east  front  of  the 
capitol  in  sight  from  its  windows,  we  used  to  sit  by  the 
sofa  on  which  rested  a  feeble  invalid  wrapped  in  shawls 
and  propped  up  by  pillows — feeble  in  body  only,  but  of 
a  mental  and  moral  health  that  made  us  almost  forget  her 
physical  illness.  The  deep  brilliancy  of  her  eyes,  her 
animated  features,  and  a  certain  sense  of  life  and  power 
in  the  faintest  tones  of  her  voice,  had  the  effect  of  giving 
us  strength  and  refreshing  inspiration.  Virtue  went  out 
from  that  strong  and  true  spirit.  We  afterwards  made 
our  home  under  the  same  roof  in  another  part  of  the  cit}'', 
for  some  months  during  two  winters.  Her  rooms  were 
on  the  first  floor,  and  after  our  five  o'clock  dinner  they 
were  the  prized  gathering  place  of  a  company  of  her  priv- 
ileged friends,  when  her  strength  would  allow.  She 
would  rest  in  an  easy-chair,  and  her  husband  was  ever 
ready  to  help  her  and  added  to  the  interest  of  the  hour  by 
his  sterling  sense,  and  clear  sagacity  of  comment  on  pass- 
ing events.  Those  visits  are  fresh  in  memory.  Com- 
mon-sense and  judgment,  and  frank  independence  bright- 
ened by  keen  wit  and  tinged  with  a  fine  womanly  grace 
shone  out  in  her  conversation.  She  never  assumed  to 
teach,  yet  much  was  always  learned  from  her.  She  had 
fidelity  to  conscience  and  a  readiness  for  every  practical 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


113 


duty,  while  her  soul  was  filled  with  an  abiding  faith  in  the 
triumph  of  truth  and  the  progress  of  man.  Feeble  as  she 
was  in  body,  her  sweet  and  strong  spirit  gave  light  and 
abiding  life  to  the  whole  household.  At  last  the  time  came 
when  she  was  unable  to  leave  their  New  Hampshire  home. 
I  extract  from  the  Concord  DaiVy  Mofii/or  its  fit  tribute  to 
her  worth.  That  room  which  is  mentioned  as  her  abiding- 
place  for  years  her  husband  showed  us  photographs  ofy 
and  also  of  the  views  on  the  two  sides  from  its  windows 
of  village  streets  and  swift  river,  and  towering  hills  near 
by.     The  Monitor  said  : 

"  She  bore  her  long  illness  with  remarkable  patience 
and  fortitude,  and  kept  up  her  interest  in  public  affairs 
and  the  reforms  of  the  day,  to  the  closing  hours  of  her 
life.  Loving  hands  and  hearts  ministered  to  her  every 
want  during  her  protracted  illness,  and  those  nearest  and 
dearest  witnessed  in  her  last  years  a  superb  illustration  of 
the  power  of  mind  over  the  ills  of  the  body.  She  possessed 
rare  insight,  in  judging  of  the  character  and  action  of 
peojile,  and  an  extensive  knowledge  of  public  affairs. 

"No  sham,  political  or  religious,  passed  her  keen 
inspection  without  detection.  She  was  one  of  the  early 
anti-slavery  women  of  this  city,  and  a  '  Garrisonian 
Abolitionist '  until  slavery  was  abolished.  In  the  memor- 
able struggle  in  the  old  New  Hampshire  Anti-Slavery 
Society,  for  the  right  of  women  to  participate  in  its 
business  and  discussions,  she  was  one  of  the  earliest  and 
foremost  for  that  right,  and  served  on  the  executive  Com- 
mittee of  the  Society  in  its  last  years.  She  was  one  of 
the  women,  who,  under  the  name  of  the  Concord  Female 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  addressed  a  letter  of  sympathetic 
support  to  the  late  Hon.  John  P.  Hale,  when  he  broke 
from  the  democratic  party  on  the  occasion  of  the  annex- 
ation of  Texas,  and  in  reply  to  which  he  made  use  of  the 
memorable   expression,  '  God   makes  women  ;  milliners 

make  ladies. 

8 


1 14  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

' '  Mrs.  Ela  was  an  earnest  supporter  of  the  cause  of 
temperance,  and  no  less  so  of  the  Woman  Suffrage  move- 
ment, serving  as  an  officer  of  the  National  Woman  Suf- 
frage organization  until  failing  health  compelled  her  to 
retire.  Her  house  was  the  home  of  all  workers  in  these 
and  kindred  reform  movements  which  gave  her  a  wide 
circle  of  acquaintances  and  friends.  She  had  the  courage 
of  her  convictions  to  a  rare  degree,  and  never  compro- 
mised her  opinions  or  shrank  from  any  duty  they  required 
of  her.  Her  philosophy  of  human  action  could  be 
epitomized  in  this  :  '  Duty  is  ours  ;  consequences,  God's." 
She  took  her  position  among  the  advanced  liberals  in  the- 
ology from  the  time  when  Theodore  Parker  stirred  the 
theological  conservatism  of  Boston  and  New  England,  as 
the  angel  of  old  stirred  the  pool  that  health  might  flow 
from  it;  and  for  the  past  five  and  twenty  years  has  abided 
in  the  hope,  joy,  and  peace  that  comes  to  her  from  a 
belief  in  the  spiritual  philosophy. 

"Mrs.  Ela  spent  much  of  her  time,  winters,  in  Wash- 
ington, until  her  increasing  illness,  within  four  years, 
rendered  the  journey  too  fatiguing.  For  the  past  three 
and  a  half  years  she  left  her  house  but  once,  for  a  short 
ride,  her  room  but  a  few  times." 

JOSEPHINE    S.     GRIFFING. 

♦♦  For  the  soul  that  gives  most  freely 
From  its  treasure,  hath  the  more  : 
Would  you  lose  your  life,  you  find  it, 

And  in  giving  love  you  bind  it, 
Like  an  amulet  of  safety, 

To  your  heart  forever  more." 

Lizzie  Doten, 

Born  in  a  Connecticut  farmhouse  and  of  Huguenot 
descent  on  the  father's  side,  Josephine  S.  Griffing  inher- 
ited the  high  sense  of  duty  and  the  readiness  for  self- 
sacrifice  of  the  Puritan  and  the  French  Protestant.  Trained 
in  the  simple  ways  of  daily  industry,  guided  and  inspired 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVEXTY  YEARS.  115 

by  kindly  and  thoughtful  parents,  well  educated  in  the 
common  way,  of  uncommon  mental  ability,  fine  physical 
health,  and  an  admirable  harmony  of  character,  she  was 
well  equipped  for  the  great  work  that  came  unsought  to 
her  in  mature  life.  A  graceful  beauty  of  person,  and  a 
winning  charm  of  manners,  showed  some  strain  of  fine 
blood  softening  the  hardy  vigor  of  New  England  country 
life. 

I  first  knew  her  in  Salem,  Ohio,  where  much  of  her 
married  and  family  life  was  spent.  She  was  graciously 
hospitable  in  an  admirably  managed  home,  full  of  house- 
hold cares,  a  thoughtful  and  sweet-souled  woman,  greatly 
beloved  and  respected.  She  was  soon  after  in  the  field 
as  a  speaker  among  the  abolitionists,  and  had  rare  per- 
suasive power,  Ohio  and  Michigan  were  her  main  fields 
of  travel,  and  in  storm  or  calm — storms  coming  fiercely 
sometimes  in  those  days — she  held  her  self-poise  and 
high  courage.  I  well  remember  how  she  faced  an  angry 
mob  for  an  hour  in  Ann  Arbor.  I  can  see  her  on  that 
plain,  low  platform,  with  only  a  little  space  around  her 
vacant,  and  she,  fearless,  erect,  radiant,  speaking  in  clear 
tones  that  conquered  wrath  and  even  won  a  hearing  part 
of  the  time.  No  lady  in  a  parlor  could  have  had  finer 
poise  of  feeling  and  manner. 

She  afterward  did  great  service  as  a  Loyal  League 
organizer  in  the  west.  In  the  spring  of  1864  she  went  to 
Washington,  and  her  home  and  main  life-work  were 
there  from  that  time.  She  "had  a  concern,"  using  an 
expressive  Quaker  phrase,  for  the  freedmen,  saw  imper- 
ative need  for  some  large  system  for  their  help  and  pro- 
tection and  future  self-support,  and  thought  out  the  idea 
of  governmental  help  in  some  organized  and  effective 
way.  Inspiring  others  the  idea  ripened  into  the  Freed- 
man's  Bureau  bill,  first  prepared  and  offered  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  by  Hon.  T.  D.  Elliott  of  Boston,  after- 


Il6  UrWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

ward  modified  and  amended  in  the  Senate   by  Charles 
Sumner. 

The  idea  was  hers.  The  efforts  of  these  gentlemen, 
and  others,  are  worthy  of  commendation.  They  con- 
tinued to  be  her  friends.  She  did  all  possible  then  and 
afterward  for  the  bill  and  for  needed  appropriations,  and 
won  the  high  respect  and  confidence  of  the  public  men 
who  knew  her.  From  the  heart  and  brain  of  this  woman 
sprang  the  inspiring  thought  which  gave  life  and  being  to 
the  Freedman's  Bureau. 

I  have  heard  Senator  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  of  Ohio,  give 
this  opinion  several  times,  and  say  that  she  ought  to  be 
at  the  head  of  the  bureau.  That  she  never  sought  or  ex- 
pected, but  was  ready  to  do  service  for  it,  as  she  did,  in 
ways  that  were  equalled  by  few  and  excelled  by  none. 
Her  house  was  on  Capitol  Hill,  in  sight  of  the  north  end 
of  the  Capitol.  Spending  some  time,  with  my  wife,  in 
that  city,  from  1866  for  some  years,  we  often  went  to  that 
house  to  see  her  daily  w^ork.  Throngs  of  needy  freed 
people,  infirm  and  poor,  were  there,  each  case  must  be 
carefully  looked  into  and  the  worthy  helped.  Sometimes 
the  bureau  helped  ;  sometimes  it  came  from  private  con- 
tributions which  came  to  her  from  all  over  the  land.  Her 
work  by  day  and  her  large  correspondence  at  night  grew 
to  a  wearing  task,  in  which  her  daughters  helped. 

There  was  no  large  salary,  but  plain  life  and  heavy  work 
for  the  poorest  of  the  poor.  If  a  babe  died  in  a  hovel  she 
would  go  to  see  that  all  was  decent,  and  stand  beside  the 
little  coffin  at  the  grave  to  say  a  few  words  full  of  sweet 
strength,  the  music  of  her  voice  broken  by  the  sobs  of 
those  around.  She  was  their  angel  of  mercy.  They  all 
knew  and  trusted  her  devotedly,  and  the  rudest  treated 
her  with  tender  reverence.  She  saw  the  need  of  this  host 
becoming  self-supporting,  and,  by  aid  from  the  bureau 
and  other  sources  laid  plans  for  sending  them  north  to 
earn  their  living.     We  would  sometimes  go  to  the  rail- 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVEA'TY  YEARS.  117 

road  depot  at  niyht  to  see  her  start  for  New  York  with  a 
chartered  car  full  of  these,  freed  people,  she  g'oing  to  see 
they  were  put  in  right  hands  and  coming'  back  the  next 
day.  In  this  way  she  sent  off"  seven  thousand,  of 
whom  the  larger  part  did  well — a  larger  work  of  this 
kind  than  was  done  by  any  or  all  other  persons  or 
societies,  and  a  task  of  great  toil. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  her  fast  friend,  and  she  could 
always  see  him,  for  he  prized  her  counsel.  We  have 
often  heard  her  speak  of  the  depth  of  pathos  and  feeling 
in  his  eyes,  and  of  a  reverence  for  good  women  always 
marked  in  his  manner.  She  was  a  saint  in  all  eyes  and 
hearts.  The  best  clergymen  were  her  friends  and  the 
stoutest  heretics  stood  by  her.  Riding  one  day  in  the 
street-car  in  sight  of  her  house,  after  her  death,  two  rough 
men  sat  opposite  me.  One  of  them  pointed  to  the  house 
and  said  to  the  other:  "A  pious  woman  lived  there; 
one  of  the  genuine  kind,  I  tell  you,"  his  voice  growing 
tender  and  his  aspect  reverent  as  he  spoke. 

One  evening  Clara  Barton,  the  well-known  army  nurse, 
Mrs.  F.  D.  Gage,  and  a  few  others  met  at  Miss  Barton's 
to  open  a  plan  for  Mrs.  Grifllng  to  travel  and  lecture  to  find 
greatly  needed  change  and  rest,  and  to  get  money  which 
she  needed.  They  were  all  sure  of  her  success,  and  she 
listened  for  an  hour  to  their  hopeful  words  and  then  said  : 
"  I  thank  you;  it  maybe  so,  but  I  cannot  leave  these 
poor  people,"  and  she  never  did,  so  long  as  strength 
lasted. 

An  earnest  advocate  of  woman  suffrage  she  was  a  wel- 
come speaker  and  a  prized  helper  in  that  great  reform. 
Domestic  in  her  tastes,  an  accomplished  woman,  fit  to 
adorn  and  charm  the  finest  society,  giving  her  time  and 
strength  to  service  among  the  poor,  she  was  indeed  a 
Sister  of  Charity.  In  the  spring,  1872,  my  wife  sat  with 
"her  dear  daughters  by  her  bedside  when  the  last  hour  came 
• — an  hour  of  such  peace  and  light  that  it  was  rather  the 


1 18  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

ascent  of  an  angel  to  the  skies   than   the  gloomy  going 
down  of  a  mortal  to  the  tomb. 

This  letter  from  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  showing  his 
estimate  of  this  gifted  woman,  may  fitly  close  this  brief 
sketch.  The  beautiful  chirography  of  the  letter,  clear 
and  perfect,  shows  the  steady  hand  of  the  anti-slavery 
pioneer,  when  nearly  70  years  of  age  : 

RoxBURY,  Mass.,  March  4,  1872. 
G.  B.  Stebbins — 

My  dear  friend  :  I  was  glad  to  see  the  well-merited  tributes  paid  by 
yourself  and  others  to  the  memory  of  Mrs.  Josephine  S.  Griffing.  She 
was  for  a  considerable  period  actively  "ngaged  in  the  anti-slavery  struggle 
in  Ohio,  where  by  her  rare  executive  ability  and  persuasiveness  as  a 
public  lecturer,  she  aided  greatly  in  enlightening  and  changing  public 
sentiment  and  hastening  the  day  of  jubilee.  With  what  unremitting  zeal 
and  energy  did  she  espouse  the  cause  of  the  homeless,  penniless,  benighted, 
starving  freedmen,  driven  by  stress  of  circumstances  into  the  National 
capital  in  such  overwhelming  numbers;  and  what  a  multitude  were  be- 
friended and  saved  through  her  moving  appeals  in  their  behalf.  How 
like  an  angel  of  mercy  must  she  have  seemed  to  them  all !  No  doubt  the 
formation  of  the  Freedman's  Bureau  was  mainly  due  to  her  representa- 
tions as  to  its  indispensable  necessity  :  and  how  much  good  it  accom- 
plished in  giving  help  and  protection  to  those  who  were  so  suddenly 
brought  out  of  the  house  of  bondage,  as  against  the  ferocity  of  the  rebel 
element,  it  is  difficult  to  compute  because  of  its  magnitude.  She  deserves 
to  be  gratefully  remembered  among  "  the  honorable  women  not  a  few," 
who,  in  their  days  have  been — 

"Those  starry  lights  of  virtue  that  diffuse 
Through  the  dark  depths  of  time  their  vital  flame," 
whose  self-abnegation  and  self-sacrifice  for  suffering  humanity  have  been 
absolute,  and  who  have  nobly  vindicated  every  claim  made  for  their  sex 
to  full  equality  with  men  in  all  that  serves  to  dignify  human  nature.  Her 
rightful  place  is  among  '  the  noble  army  of  martyrs,'  for  her  life  was  un- 
doubtedly very  much  shortened  by  her  many  cares  and  heavy  responsi- 
bilities and  excessive  labors  in  behalf  of  the  pitiful  objects  of  her  sympathy 
and  regard.     Very  truly  yours, 

William  Lloyd  Garrison. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


119 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   FRIENDS — QUAKERISM. 

"  Our  footsteps  sought  the  humble  house, 
Unmarked  by  cross  or  towering  steeple, 
Where,  for  their  First-day  gathering,  came 
God's  plain  and  chosen  people. 

How  deep  the  common  silence  was  ; 

How  pure  and  sweet  those  woman  faces, 
Which  patience,  gentleness  and  peace 

Had  stamped  with  heavenly  graces. 

When  at  the  elder's  clasp  of  hands, 
We  rose  and  met  beneath  the  portal 

Some  earthly  dust  our  lives  had  lost, 
And  something  gained  immortal." 

Harriet  O.  Nelson. 

The  readingf  of  Bancroft's  description  of  William  Penn 
and  the  early  Friends,  and  of  that  noble  book  "Barclay's 
Apology,"  had  given  me  a  high  idea  of  Quakerism,  but  I 
knew  nothing  of  Friends  personally,  until  my  connection 
with  the  anti-slavery  movement.  When  travel  in  the 
lecture  field  opened  wider  acquaintance,  I  found  these 
were  friends  indeed,  and  the  simple  beauty  and  genuine- 
ness of  their  hospitality  was  restful  and  cheering  beyond 
expression.  One  of  the  first  Quaker  homes  I  visited 
was  that  of  Effingham  L.  Capron,  at  Uxbridge,  Mass. — a 
tall  white-haired  man.  of  noble  aspect,  commanding 
yet  gentle,  and  of  a  fine  courage  fit  to  stand  firm  for  a 
most  unpopular  truth.  Husband  and  wife  were  help- 
mates, a  sense  of  this  was  in  the  very  air.  ]\Irs.  Garrison 
was  the  daughter  of  George  Benson,  an  Orthodox  Quaker 


I20  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

of  large  powers  and  great  moral  courage,  and  I  saw  in 
her  a  fine  type  of  womanhood  ;  strength,  courage,  large 
views,  and  yet  no  loss,  but  gain  indeed,  in  the  sweet 
graces  of  the  wife  and  mother.  A  great  work  Quakerism 
has  wrought  for  woman,  and  so  for  man,  for  we  rise  and 
fall  together. 

Farther  acquaintance  with  Friends  gave  new  under- 
standing of  the  practical  benefits  of  their  idea  of  the 
"inner  light."  The  central  germ  of  early  Quakerism, 
that  which  gave  it  life  and  vital  warmth,  was,  that  in  the 
soul  is  a  divine  light,  which  is  our  best  and  safest  guide, 
above  all  books  and  creeds,  or  all  forms  and  ceremonies, 
excellent,  as  these  may  be  ;  that  all  written  gospels  are  to 
be  judged  by  this  primal  gospel.  This  leads  the  Quaker 
to  wait  "  in  the  quiet  "  for  the  "inward  witness  ;  "  to  pay 
heed  to  "the  voice  of  God  in  the  soul  ;"  to  make  all 
outward  authorities  of  less  value,  all  other  guides  less 
sure  than  this.  Priceless  has  been  this  central  idea  of  the 
Quaker.  Did  Paul,  as  interpreted  by  orthodox  authorities, 
say  it  is  a  shame  for  woman  to  speak  in  public,  the  inner 
light  led  the  Quaker  to  be  just,  and  woman's  persuasive 
voice  has  been  heard  in  their  meeting-houses  for  two 
hundred  years.  Did  grave  doctors  of  divinity  make  the 
Bible  the  bulwark  of  slavery,  the  inner  light  led  Whittier 
to  be  true  to  freedom,  and  to  give  voice  to  the  genuine 
Quaker  sentiment  when  he  charged  the  pro-slavery  priest- 
hood with 

"  Perverting,  darkening,  changing  as  they  go. 
The  searching  truths  of  God." 

No  doubt  the  Quakers  have  clouded  the  light  by  artifi- 
cial disciplines  and  dogmas,  for  no  class  of  human  beings 
have  ever  been  wholly  true  to  their  highest  ideal,  but  it 
has  dispelled  many  a  cloud.  A  leading  elder  in  a  great 
New  York  City  meeting  of  Hicksite  Friends  said  :  "I 
had  rather  be  aslave-holdcr  than  an  abolitionist,"  showing 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  x  21 

that  his  light  had  grown  dim.  Weighty  members  helped 
to  persecute  and  disown  the  anti-slavery  advocates,  in 
their  midst,  but  this  did  not  put  out  the  light  in  many 
true  souls,  or  seal  their  lips. 

In  the  daily  conduct  of  private  life,  in  honesty,  temper- 
ance, simple  friendliness  and  hospitality,  and  in  mutual 
reverence  between  man  and  woman,  the  Quakers  have 
profited  more  than  they,  or  others,  are  aware,  by  their 
central  and  inspiring  idea.  The  societies  of  Friends  are 
on  the  wane  ;  as  organized  bodies  they  may  cease 
to  be,  but  their  truths  will  pass  into  other  movements, 
with  no  golden  seed-grain  thereof  lost.  No  body  of 
men  and  women  of  equal  numbers  has  ever  been  of  so 
much  benefit  to  mankind,  or  helped  so  much  to  the 
moral  and  spiritual  growth  of  the  human  family. 

Far  beyond  the  Society  of  Friends  has  their  influence 
gone.  William  Lloyd  Garrison  frankly  owned  that  a  little 
tract  by  Elizabeth  Heyrick,  an  English  Quaker  woman, 
opened  clearly  to  him  the  wisdom  of  immediate  eman- 
cipation, and  gratefully  acknowledged  the  fidelity  of  his 
early  Quaker  co-worker,  Benjamin  Lundy. 

The   peace    principles   of    Friends    are    to    win   their 
bloodless  and  beneficent  victory  by  national  arbitration. 

Ralph  Waldo  Ernerson  preached  at  Newport  and  New 
Bedford,  in  1827,  and  greatly  prized  the  Friends  he  met. 
Mary  Roach,  of  New  Bedford,  a  thoughtful  and  intuitive 
Quakeress,  was  his  near  friend,  and  his  difficulty  as  to 
sacrament  and  prayer  as  forms  of  worship,  which  led  him 
out  from  his  Unitarian  pulpit  to  a  world-wide  ministry, 
may  be  traced  to  these  influences.  Certainly  his  writings 
have  much  in  common  with  the  views  of  Friends. 

Lydia  Maria  Child  had  great  unity  with  the  Friends, 
and  was  inspired  by  their  doctrine  of  the  voice  of  God 
heard  in  the  soul  of  Pagan  as  well  as  Christian  to 
write  her  great  work,  The  Progress  of  Religious  Ideas,  a 
work  of  great   research,  and   the   first  effort   to  give  fair 


122  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

statement  and  comparison  of  the  world's  great  religions, 
recognizing  the  unity  and  sympathy  of  the  leading  truths 
in  them  all.  This  large-souled  woman  opened  the  path 
which  Max  Miiller  and  other  eminent  scholars  have  since 
explored  with  such  rich  results,  and  she  was  led  to  that 
opening  work  by   her  knowledge  of  Quaker  views. 

So  live  and  spread  and  last  the  teachings    of  Fox  and 
Penn,  of  Woolman  and  Whittier. 

Only  once  I  have  met  the  Quaker  poet,  forty  years 
ago.  at  the  anti-slavery  office  in  Boston.  I  sat  by  him  for 
an  hour  of  pleasant  talk.  His  fine  simplicity,  his  strength 
tempered  by  sweetness,  and  the  depth  of  his  wonderful 
eyes,  I  well  remember.  He  was  then  in  delicate  health,  and 
did  not  expect  to  be  long  on  earth.  As  we  parted  he  took 
my  hand  and  said  in  a  quiet  way  with  no  touch  of  sad- 
ness in  voice  or  manner,  "  I  am  glad  to  have  met  thee. 
We  may  not  meet  again,  for  I  seldom  go  out.  I  am  far 
from  well,  and  my  stay  on  earth  will  not  probably  be 
long." 

Fortunately  he  has  lived  to  be  a  teacher  of  "  the  wisdom 
which  is  love." 

Something  of  other  Friends  whom  I  have  known  is 
worthy  of  note. 

GRIFFITH  M.    COOPER. 

In  the  winter  of  1844  I  first  found  my  way  to  the  home 
of  Griffith  M.  Cooper,  in  Williamson,  Wayne  County, 
New  York.  A  walk  of  five  miles  northward  from  Marion 
brought  me  in  sight  of  a  large  stone  farmhouse,  built 
after  the  Pennsylvania  style,  and  standing  some  twenty 
rods  back  from  the  west  side  of  the  road,  with  its  barns 
and  orchards  on  the  south  side.  I  followed  the  path  in 
the  snow  to  a  side  door,  rapped,  and  a  voice  said  :  ' '  Come 
in."  I  entered  and  found  a  Quaker-like  man,  of  middle 
age  and  stature,  with  a  clear  eye,  an  expressive  face  and 
a  prompt  and  decisive  yet  kindly   manner,  sitting  by  the 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


123 


stove  and  mending-  a  harness-strap.  I  gave  my  name  and 
said:  "I  was  told  to  call  and  see  you.  '  He  rose,  gave 
me  a  friendly  grasp  of  the  hand,  and  replied  :  "I  am  glad 
to  see  thee  ;  take  off  thy  coat  and  sit  down.  This  is  Eliza, 
my  wife" — as  a  tall,  fine-looking  matron  came  in.  I  was 
at  home  at  once,  our  talk  flowed  freely,  we  seemed  like 
old  acquaintances,  and  so  began  a  long  and  cordial 
friendship.  He  was  not  a  Quaker  by  birth,  but  by  con- 
viction. His  father  was  a  captain  in  the  navy,  and  lived 
to  be  over  ninety.  The  son  went  from  their  New  Jersey 
home  a  voyage  or  two  as  a  boy  in  a  merchant  ship,  and 
was  sailing-master  in  a  war-vessel,  and  a  lieutenant 
before  he  left  the  service.  One  day,  at  his  house,  he  was 
looking  over  files  of  old  papers  in  his  desk,  and  laughed 
heartily  as  he  opened  a  yellow  sheet  ,and  explained  its 
contents  as  being  a  copy  of  a  brief  but  frank  correspon- 
dence between  himself  and  a  certain  veteran  Commodore 
who  shall  be  nameless.  It  bore  date  in  1813,  during  our 
last  war  with  Great  Britain.  He  said,  during  a  naval 
fight  on  Long  Island  Sound  between  some  of  our  gun- 
boats and  some  British  war  vessel  that  the  Commodore 
was  intoxicated.  This  reached  that  officer's  knowledge, 
and  hence  the  letters,  as  follows  : 

Sailing  Master,  G.  M.  Cooper. — Sir,  did  you  say  that  I 
was  drunk  during  the  action  with  the  Maidstone  and  the 
Sylph .?     An  early  answer  is  requested. 

Yours,  etc., 

.   .    .  Commodore. 
Spermaceti  Cove,  L.  I.,  Nov.  13th,  18 13. 

Commodore.  ...  I  did  say  you  was  drunk  during  the 
action  referred  to. 

Yours  resp'y, 

G.  M.  Cooper, 
Nov.  17th,  1 8 13.  Sailing  Master. 


I  24  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

This  prompt  reply  shows  his  frank  fearlessness.  He 
said  that  when  the  Commodore's  letter  came  he  thought 
his  time  of  reprimand  and  disgrace  had  come,  for  it  was 
a  grave  matter  for  a  young  subordinate  to  make  such  a 
charge  against  an  old  officer  ;  but  his  second  thought  was  : 
"It's  true,  and  I'll  say  so,"  and  his  reply  went  back 
prompt  as  a  musket  shot.  He  waited,  expecting  a  sum- 
mons daily,  but  none  came;  no  allusion  ever  was  made 
to  it,  and  a  few  months  later,  after  he  had  taken  leading 
part  in  some  other  naval  tight,  that  Commodore,  in  his 
ofticial  report,  named  him  as  worthy  of  merit  for  his 
bravery.  He  married,  was  home  at  Haddonfield,  N.  J., 
on  a  furlough,  and  met  the  Quakers,  whose  plain  ways 
were  matter  for  the  jests  of  a  lively  officer  like  him.  He 
attended  their  meetings,  appreciated  their  worth,  resigned 
his  naval  office— where  all  promised  a  bright  future,  and 
joined  the  Friends  in  a  year.  When  the  strange  news 
reached  his  father  that  sturdy  man-of-war' s-man  had  a 
good  laugh,  and  then  swore  stoutly:  "  Grif  will  make  a 
good  Quaker.      He's  first  rate  at  anything  he  tries." 

Moving  to  Western  New  York  at  an  early  day  he  bought 
a  large  farm,  built  his  solid  home,  took  active  part  among 
the  Hicksite  Quakers,  and  soon  became  a  leading  minister, 
advocating  his  new  opinions  with  earnest  enthusiasm, 
commanding  respect  by  his  honor  and  thoroughness  in 
business  affairs,  and  winning  friends  by  his  fine  social 
qualities.  He  visited  the  southern  part  of  Erie  County, 
below  Buffalo,  to  attend  Friends'  meetings,  and  found  that 
the  Cattaraugus  Indians  were  being  led  by  the  Ogden 
Land  company  (a  rich  corporation)  to  surrender  their 
lands  for  poor  pay.  His  knowledge  of  the  world  led  him 
to  see  that  this  might  be  stopped,  and  his  sympathy  for 
the  Indians  roused  him  to  action.  He  went  first  to  his 
own  Genessee  yearly  meeting,  but  they  were  too  cautious 
to  engage  alone  in  so  weighty  a  matter.  He  then  went,  as 
he  told  me,  to  Philadelphia,  visited  Dr.  Parrish,  an  influen- 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  125 

tial  Friend  (the  physician  who  attended  John  Randolph 
of  Roanoke,  in  his  last  sickness,  when  the  dying- Virg^inian 
wrote,  "Remorse,  Remorse,"  on  a  card)  laid  his  "con- 
cern "  before  him,  went  with  him  to  the  great  assembly 
at  Race  Street  yearly  meeting  of  Friends,  and  there  laid  the 
case  before  them  with  such  clearness  that  they  decided 
to  help.  He  then  went  to  Baltimore  yearly  meeting,  and 
had  help  pledged  there,  and  Genesee  meeting  promised 
aid  when  he  went  back  to  them,  and  to  his  home.  This 
aid  was  not  a  large  salary,  for  Quakers  are  opposed,  on 
principle,  to  paying  salaries  for  religious  or  philanthropic 
work.  He  was  simply  to  be  paid  modest  expenses,  so 
that  he  could  devote  so  much  time  as  might  be  necessary 
to  this  arduous  task,  and  have  his  farm  cared  for  in  his 
absence.  With  the  way  thus  open,  he  entered  upon  what 
he  felt  would  be  a  difficult  undertaking  with  his  usual 
enthusiasm  and  persistent  vigor;  and  for  ten  years 
spent  a  large  part  of  his  time  on  the  Cattaraugus 
Indian  Reservation,  or  in  journeys  connected  with  their 
affairs.  The  Ogden  Land  Company  had  already  obtained 
a  title  from  the  Indians  to  the  Tuscarora  Reservation,  a 
valuable  tract  of  land  near  Buffalo,  and  could  not  be  dis- 
turbed in  that.  They  were  partially  in  possession  of  a  part 
of  the  Cattaraugus  Reservation — which  embraced  many 
thousand  acres  of  fine  lands  on  Cattaraugus  creek — had 
removed  a  part  of  the  Indian  occupants  to  the  then  far 
west,  in  what  is  now  Kansas,  and  were  making  great 
efforts  to  get  full  possession  of  all  these  lands.  The 
ablest  legal  counsel,  the  shrewdest  diplomatists,  the  most 
astute  managers  to  lead  the  red  men  into  their  designs 
were  employed,  for  the  prize  was  a  rich  one.  Against 
this  combined  power  of  talent  and  money  our  brave  Qua- 
ker was  almost  single-handed  on  the  start.  But  he  had 
justice  on  his  side,  his  knowledge  of  men  was  wide, 
his  industry  unwearied,  and  his  Quaker  directness  and 
simple  sincerity  won  the  fast  confidence  of  most  of  the 


126  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  VEAA'S. 

Indians.  He  stayed  with  them,  attended  their  meetings 
in  the  great  Council  House — a  rude  wooden  building 
where  they  met  in  response  to  the  call  of  runners  who 
went  swiftly  on  foot  over  the  Reservation  to  notify  them 
of  these  gatherings — kept  notes  by  a  stenographer  of  all 
important  speeches  or  action,  and  was  well  posted  as  to 
the  acts  of  the  agents  of  the  Land  Company. 

Standing  in  the  railroad  depot  at  Rochester,  New  York, 
with  him  as  a  train  was  starting  westward,  he  touched  my 
shoulder,  pointed  to  a  tall  man  just  stepping  into  a  car, 
and  asked:  "Does  thee  see  that  man?"  He  gave  his 
name,  and  said  :  "In  Buffalo  once  he  led  me  into  the  hall 
of  a  hotel  and  said  to  me  :  '  Mr.  Cooper,  if  you  will  go 
home  and  stay  on  your  farm,  and  attend  to  your  own 
affairs,  you  can  have  $60,000.'"  What  did  you  say  to 
him.^  I  asked  :  "I  said,  go  to  the  devil  with  thy  $60,000," 
— as  near  an  oath  as  a  Quaker  could  well  come.  He 
often  spoke  of  the  decorum  and  order  of  these  Council 
House  meetings.  Matters  of  the  greatest  importance,  and 
on  which  there  was  strong  feeling  \  were  discussed,  but 
there  was  never  disorder  or  dispute.  One  Indian  would 
rise  and  state  his  views  ;  when  he  took  his  seat  there 
would  usually  be  a  moment's  interval  and  another  would 
follow,  taking  perhaps,  the  opposite  view,  seldom  allud- 
ing to  what  had  been  said,  and  never  in  controversy  but 
only  to  make  his  own  meaning  plain.  Very  rarely  it  hap- 
pened that  two  would  rise  at  the  same  time,  but  no  con- 
test ever  followed,  one  always  yielded  quietly  to  the 
other.  He  said  that  in  order  and  fairness  of  statement, 
those  Indian  councils  excelled  any  like  gatherings  of  white 
people,  he  ever  attended.  While  with  them  he  often  spoke 
in  Friends'  meetings  near  by,  and  Indians  would  occa- 
sionally be  hearers,  but  among  them  he  never  made  efforts 
for  their  conversion.  He  talked  familiarly  of  industry  and 
honesty,  and  good  habits,  and  respect  for  the  squaws, 
pointed  out  matters  in  which  the  whites  were  their  supe- 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  127 

riors,  and  warned  them  agamst  certain  failings  and  vices 
of  the  white  people.  Of  their  Great  Father  he  spoke  as 
the  Father  of  all  peoples,  but  raised  no  controversy  as  to 
creeds  or  systems  of  faith.  Several  journeys  to  Washing- 
ton with  Indian  delegations  were  necessary,  and  inter- 
views with  leading  officials.  One  such  interview  he 
had  with  Martin  Van  Buren,  then  Secretary  of  State. 
They  were  alone.  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  heard  the  Ogden 
Land  Company's  statements,  and  was  influenced  in  their 
favor.  He  gave  a  version  of  a  certain  matter,  evidently 
the  Company's  version,  and  yet  he  knew  certain  facts 
which  would  refute  it.  Our  plain-spoken  Quaker  said  : 
"Martin,  what  does  thee  say  so  for .'  Thee  knows  it  is  not 
so,  when  thee  says  it."  Van  Buren  told  this  himself  to 
some  friends,  and  said:  "I  like  that  Quaker.  A  man 
with  the  courage  to  tell  me,  in  so  frank  and  friendly  a 
way,  that  I  don't  tell  the  truth,  I  greatly  respecL'" 

At  last  the  victory  was  won  ;  the  Land  Company  gave 
up  all  their  efforts  ;  Joshua  Vaniey,  a  Quaker  near  the 
Reservation,  went  to  the  far  west  and  brought  back  the 
Indians  they  had  sent  there — glad  to  see  their  old  home 
again  ;  and  a  treaty  with  the  United  States  Government 
left  three  thousand  Cattaraugus  Indians  in  full  possession 
of  their  domain,  where  their  children  are  to-day.  To 
Griffith  M.  Cooper,  more  t'nan  to  any  other  man,  do  they 
owe  this  peaceful  possession. 

It  is  fifty  years  or  more  since  these  events  occurred. 
Dates  are  lost  with  the  lost  records  which,  as  long  as  he 
lived,  he  carefully  kept  What  I  give  is  from  his  own 
lips,  and  from  those  records  as  I  saw  them.  For  some 
time  the  Friends  kept  up  a  mission  on  that  tract,  another 
person  being  sent  as  his  successor.  He  had  some  differ- 
ence of  opinion  with  the  Society,  did  not  wish  to  seem  to 
interfere  with  their  agent,  and,  therefore,  did  not  visit  the 
Indians  for  years.  At  last,  in  response  to  many  requests, 
he  sent  them  word  that  he  would  be  at  the  old  Council 


I  28  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

House  on  a  certain  day.  Runners  went  out,  the  day  was 
fair,  and  the  whole  population  was  there — thousands  went 
to  see  and  hear  and  greet  their  old  friend,  and  tears 
"  from  eyes  unused  to  weep,  "coursed  down  the  swart 
cheeks  of  his  hearers.  I  have  met  those  Indians  since, 
and  the  mention  of  his  name  lights  up  their  faces,  and 
calls  out  expressions  of  respect  and  affection.  I  have 
omitted  to  mention  what  he  told  me  of  their  treatment  of 
children.  He  never  saw  an  Indian  child  whipped  or 
abused.  The  little  ones  had  large  liberty  out  of  doors, 
and  therefore  were  not  greatly  troublesome.  When  a  boy 
was  wrong  or  ugly,  he  had  seen  the  father  take  him  by 
the  hand,  lead  him  one  side,  sit  beside  him  on  the  grass 
or  on  a  fallen  tree,  and  talk  with  him  earnestly  and 
gravely  until  the  lad  came  back  in  better  mood.  The 
mothers  would  deal  in  like  way  with  the  girls,  but  he 
never  saw  an  Indian  parent  lift  a  hand  agamst  a  child, 
and  never  heard  a  threat  or  an  angry  word  to  the  little 
ones. 

At  a  later  day  came  up  searching  questions  on  theo- 
logical matters,  and  the  great  anti-slavery  reform.  A  man 
of  such  active  mind  and  sterling  independence,  would 
pay  small  heed  to  any  technical  narrowness  of  Society 
discipline,  or  to  any  timid  conservatism.  Of  course  he 
was  a  progressive  thinker  and  an  abolitionist.  Both  these, 
especially  the  last,  were  grave  heresies  to  "weighty 
members  "  of  the  Friend  s  Society  to  which  he  belonged. 
No  charge  was  possible  against  his  personal  character, 
but  he  was  after  long  effort,  deposed  from  his  ministry, 
which  action  was  considered  as  a  grave  rebuke.  On  a 
corner  of  his  farm  he  had  given  a  lot  on  which  to  build  a 
Quaker  meeting-house,  and  usually  attended  there  on  first 
day,  speaking  to  good  audiences.  When  official  notice 
reached  him  that  he  was  no  longer  minister,  "after  the 
order  of  Friends,"  he  attended  the  next  meeting  in  that 
familiar  house,  took   his  usual  place  on  the  high  seat  at 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  129 

the  head  of  the  meeting,  and  was  moved  to  speak  at 
length  and  with  great  earnestness,  not  in  criticism  of  the 
Society's  action  toward  him,  but  in  powerful  advocacy  of 
his  own  views.  In  closing  he  said  :  "I  have  met  with 
you  here  for  years  as  a  minister  of  our  Society,  and  have 
aimed  to  speak  to  you  freely  and  truthfully,  according  to 
my  best  light,  claiming  no  authority  over  you,  and  asking 
you  to  speak  freely  in  assent  or  dissent.  Word  now 
comes  from  our  elders  that  I  am  no  longer  a  minister, 
therefore  I  will  take  my  seat  among  you  and  be  a  man." 
Suiting  the  action  to  the  word  he  stepped  from  the  high 
seat  and  sat  down  in  the  audience.  The  meeting  soon 
broke  up,  the  customary  hand-shaking  was  heartier  than 
usual,  and  many  voices  spoke  friendly  greeting  in  trem- 
bling and  softened  tones.  In  a  few  months  the  meeting 
was  dead — the  people  had  no  unity  with  the  action  of  the 
Society.  He  ceased  to  take  any  part  in  Friends'  meetings, 
or  to  call  himself  a  member,  although  not  formally  dis- 
owned ;  but  he  retained  their  manners  and  accepted  still 
their  leading  principles.  He  had,  at  the  last,  true  and 
tried  friends  among  the  liberal  members  of  the  Society. 
The  forms  that  fettered  he  could  not  abide,  the  spirit  that 
gave  life  and  growth  was  his.  An  early  experience  in  the 
navy  give  him  knowledge  of  its  discipline,  and  he  forci- 
bly told  of  its  despotic  and  aristocratic  character.  To  be 
subject  to  it,  he  felt,  was  crushing  and  calamitous.  "  But," 
he  would  say,  "it  is  a  part  of  the  war-system.  War  has 
its  heroic  side,  yet  it  is  despotic  and  cruel,  a  poor  and 
barbarous  way  to  settle  disputes,  inevitable  as  the  world 
is,  but  to  end  as  men  grow  wiser.  I  know  what  it  is,  and 
I  dread  and  abhor  it." 

Once  a  year  or  more,  wife  and  myself  made  a  visit  of 
some  days  at  the  farmhouse.  INIany  meetings  I  have 
attended  in  that  vicinity,  often  gotten  up  by  his  active 
help  and  strengthened  by  his  presence.  Sparkling  wit, 
keen  perception  of  pretence  or  folly,    grave  earnestness, 

9 


l->0  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

frank  sincerity  and  wide  knowledge  of  men  and  things 
gave  his  private  talk  a  wonderful  charm.  The  Career  of 
Theodore  Parker  interested  him  much  ;  the  cordial  friend- 
ship with  Lucretia  Mott,  George  Truman  and  others  in 
Philadelphia  was  kept  up  ;  he  had  a  warm  side  toward 
Spiritualism.  There  was  hospitality  for  more  light  in  that 
house,  and  wife  and  sons  and  daughter  had  like  views. 
Their  kind  and  sincere  friendship  are  gratefully  remem- 
bered. 

At  last  absence  interrupted  those  visits,  and  word  came 
that  our  dear  friend  had  passed  peacefully  away.  Wife 
and  children,  too,  have  all,  save  one,  gone  to  that  bourne 
from  whence  travellers  sometimes  return. 

JOHN    AND    H.\NNAH    COX A    GOLDEN    WEDDING. 

A  few  miles  north  of  Kennett  Square,  Chester  County, 
Pa.,  stands  the  solid  brick  farm-house  where  John  and 
Hannah  Cox  spent  more  than  fifty  years  together.  That 
homestead  had  an  air  of  comfort  and  abundance.  All 
around  were  the  well-tilled  fields  and  sunny  hill  slopes  of 
the  farm,  with  the  armple  old  barns  and  out-houses  near 
at  hand  by  the  road  side.  A  grassy  yard,  with  its  roses 
and  shrubbery  and  great  overshadowing  trees  and  old- 
fashioned  brown  picket  fence  :  the  old  orchard  ;  the  gar- 
den with  its  medicinal  herbs,  its  small  fruits,  its  vegetables 
and  blooming  flowers  near  the  bee-hives,  fitly  surrounded 
the  dwelling.  The  house — with  its  narrow  and  irregular 
passage  ways  ;  steep  staircases  ;  cozy  rooms — low-ceiled 
and  with  small  windows  ;  cheery  dining-room,  with  the 
old-fashioned  blue  figured  ware  on  the  table  ;  great 
kitchen  ;  odd  nooks  and  corners  ;  furniture  of  old  style 
and  home-like  plainness  ;  pictures,  old  and  quaint,  and 
of  later  and  finer  style  ;  mementoes  of  affection  and 
friendship,  and  books  from  George  Fox's ybz/rw^?/ to  Parker 
and  Emerson — was  full  of  attractive  interest,  and  was 
verily  a  home.      There   had    sons    and    daughters   been 


UP  WA  RD  S  TEPS  OF  SE  VEXTY  YEA  PS.  131 

born,  from  thence  had  some  of  them  gone  out  to  marry 
and  settle  near,  while  others  remained — but  this  was  the 
centre,  the  place  of  heart- warmth  and  welcome  and  refuge 
to  all.     John  Cox  was  one  of  the  steadfast  men,   indus- 
trious, of  few  words,   of  sound  judgment,  wise  in  advice 
when  urged  to  give  it,  but  never  offering  it  unasked — one 
of  those  whose  worth  and  weight  grow  on  acquaintance- 
His  plain  yet  attractive  features  and  solid  frame  typified 
his  character.      Hannah  Cox,  as  I  first  knew  her  at  sixty, 
and  up  to  over  eighty  years  old,   had  grown  large  in  per- 
son, and  had  open  and  animated  features  full  of  life  and 
intelligence,  finely  expressive  eyes,    and  an  air  of  large 
motherliness.     She  was  a  mother  indeed  to  the  sick  and 
distressed  in  the  neighborhood.      I  remember  well  how 
she  used  to  start  out  in  her  Jersey  carriage  with  supplies 
of  food  and  medicine  for  their  needs.     They  had  many 
visitors.      Sometimes,  in  the  old  fugitive  slave  law  days, 
they  entertained  slaves  who  came  there  in  the  still  watches 
of  the  night  and  were    always   kept  and  sent  along  in 
safety.     It  was  a  saying  among  a  certain  sort  of  persons  ; 
"You  might  as  well  look  for  a  needle  in  a  hay  mow  as 
for  a  nigger  in  Kennett,"  and  John  Cox  s  farm  was  a  hard 
place  to  find  them— that  is,  when  they  were   "property" 
with  faces  set  northward.       Sometimes  the  visitors  were 
of  quite  different   degree.     William  D.   Kelley  of  Phila- 
delphia, for  instance,  and  his  large-hearted  wife,  greatly 
prized   their   occasional    visits.       Edmund   Quincy,    that 
courteous   gentleman    of  the    old    school    from    Boston, 
found    interest    and     instruction     in     the     talk    of    the 
intellis-ent  daughters  who  remained  at  home,   as  well  as 
in  that  of  their   parents.     William    Lloyd   Garrison  was 
a    welcome   visitor    and    correspondent.       They    had   a 
curious  album    in    the    sitting-room — a    wax-plant    trel- 
lised  up  the  walls  and  over  the  windows,  on  the  leaves 
of   which    were   pricked    the    names    of    their    visitors, 
each  making  a  lasting  autograph,  and  all  a  long  and  inter- 


132  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YE  APS. 

estinc^  list.  In  the  early  autumn  of  1875  came  their  gold- 
en wedding,  fortunately  on  a  lovely  day.  Tables  were 
spread  in  the  yard  under  the  trees  ;  seventy-five  guests 
sat  down  ;  speeches  were  fit  and  choice  ;  presents  of  the 
best  kind — not  gaudy  tinsel  or  rich  display,  but  books  and 
pictures,  and  the  fine  simplicity  of  tasteful  mementoes. 
Whittier  sent  a  poem  ;  Bayard  Taylor,  their  neighbor  and 
friend  from  his  boyhood,  a  letter  and  present  from  Ger- 
many ;  messages  came  from  the  South,  from  Philadelphia, 
Boston,  New  York  and  elsewhere  ;  and  the  golden  wed- 
ding testimonials  added  interest  and  heart-warmth  to  the 
household  rooms.  The  letters  and  poems  were  printed 
in  a  choice  private  volume,  which  I  saw  at  the  house 
soon  afterward.  But  a  few  months  after,  Hannah  passed 
away,  and  her  husband  soon  joined  her,  over  ninety 
years  old,  she  being  about  eighty-five.  I  was  there  last 
in  1876,  and  spent  a  day  with  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  in 
attendance  at  the  Longwood  yearly  meeting  of  Progres- 
sive Friends,  where  he  read  a  testimonial,  prepared  at  the 
request  of  the  meeting,  touching  the  life  and  character  of 
Hannah  Cox.  I  remember  how  he  emphasized  the  sug- 
gestion that  in  all  probability  she  was  present  in  spirit, 
though  unseen  by  us,  as  she  would  feel  drawn  to  visit  a 
place  in  which  she  had  long  taken  active  interest. 

This  family  did  their  full  share  of  work,  in  the  fields 
and  the  household,  after  the  usual  farmer  fashion,  while 
their  social  life  reached  to  the  most  truly  cultivated  per- 
sons. High  thinking  with  plain  living,  give  grace  and 
power  of  character. 

SPIRITUAL    EXPERIENCE   OF   A    QUAKER    PREACHER. 

I  have  heard  Priscilla  Cadwallader  preach  in  the  meet- 
ings of  Hicksite  Friends  in  Rochester,  New  York.  She  was 
a  tall,  noble-looking  woman,  with  an  earnest  and  inspired 
manner  that  carried  great  weight.  An  elderly  Quaker  lady 
who  was  often  her  companion  and  nurse  in  sickness,  told 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEAKS.  133 

me  ofsome  remarkable  experiences  in  the  ministry  of  that 
gifted  preaciier.      In  Scipio,  near  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  she  was 
once  sick  and  in  danger,  and  doubted  about  taking  Thomp- 
sonian  medicine,  wJien  a  voice  wiiJmi,  audible  only  to  her, 
said,  "Take  it  and  thou  shalt  live."    She  took  it  in  peace- 
ful confidence,  and  was  soon  better.    While  at  Hamburgh, 
near  Buffalo,  her  friend  saw  her  standing  quiet,  and  look- 
ing intently  into  empty  space,   and  asked,    ' '  What  does 
thee  see.?  "  and  the  answer  was,   "I  see  a  tattered  curtain 
waving  in  the  wind  and  falling  in  pieces.   It  is  the  Society 
of  Friends,   which  will  soon  decay   and  something  else 
will  come  in  its  place.      I  can't  see  what,    but  something 
better."     One  night  soon  after,    her  friend  woke  in  the 
night,   and  heard  her,    through    the    open    door   of  their 
adjoining  rooms,  talking  pleasantly  and  laughing  at  times, 
for  an  hour,  as  though  with  some  imaginary  person,   and 
told  her  in  the  morning,  asking  if  she  had  dreamed,  when 
she  said  in  some  surprise,    "Did  thee  hear  me.?"  and  it 
was  not  again  spoken  of. 

She  once  made  a  religious  tour  in  Canada  with  Elihu 
Coleman,  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  his  wife,  with  his 
carriage  and  horses,  from  one  Friends'  meeting-house 
to  another.  Going  over  on  the  steamboat  they  were 
directed  by  a  respectable-looking  stranger,  to  stop  at  a 
certain  hotel,  a  few  miles  from  their  landing  place  for 
the  night,  and  did  so.  It  was  a  lonely  place,  but 
'they  were  well  treated  and  shown  to  their  rooms  for 
the  night,  but  Mrs.  Cadvvallader  felt  no  wish  to  sleep, 
found  the  room  of  the  Colemans,  waited  quietly  in 
her  chair,  without  fatigue,  and  three  times  in  the  night 
heard  men  come  softly  toward  the  room,  and  made 
some  noise  each  time  to  show  that  some  one  was 
up  at  which  they  turned  back.  At  early  dawn  she 
called  up  her  friends,  and  they  left,  as  she  said  she  felt 
they  must.  Breakfasting  at  another  hotel,  she  felt  like 
telling  her  story,  and  was  told  their  escape  was  fortunate 


134  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

from  a  spot  noted  for  foul  play,  and  to  which   they  were 
doubtless  directed  by  a  confederate  on  the  boat. 

Ridine  soon  after  from  one  settlement  of  Friends  to 
another,  they  came  to  a  fork  in  the  road,  and  Coleman 
was  about  to  turn  into  the  plain  way  where  they  had 
been  directed  to  go,  but  she  laid  her  hand  on  his  arm, 
pointed  to  the  other  road,  and  said,  "  We  had  better  go 
on  that  awhile."  He  always  obeyed  her  directions,  and 
did  so  then,  when  they  came  to  a  strange  house,  a  mile 
or  more  distant,  and  she  said,  "Thee  will  please  stop 
here  and  I  will  get  out."  She  found  a  Quaker  woman 
in  the  house,  held  a  religious  talk  of  an  hour  with 
her,  greatly  to  this  lone  woman's  spiritual  help  as  no 
Friends'  meetings  were  near,  and  then  went  back  to  the 
carriage  and  said,  "  I  think  now  we  had  best  go  back  to 
the  other  road." 

Telling  my  friend,  Henry  Willis,  of  these  experiences, 
he  said  :  "In  1832,  at  the  Cherry  Street  Friend's  Meeting- 
House  in  Philadelphia,  I  heard  Priscilla  preach,  and  she 
said,  '  A  terrible  war,  one  of  the  most  fearful  ever  known, 
will  rage  in  this  country.  I  hear  the  martial  music.  I 
see  two  great  hostile  armies,  both  praying  the  same  God 
for  victory.  It  is  fearful,  but  it  will  come.'  Her  hearers 
thought  her  M-ild,  but  it  is  accomplished.  What  is  all 
this  ?  Fine  intuition,  delicate  perception  and  feeling  of 
danger  and  violence,  subtle  drawing  toward  the  spiritual 
needs  of  a  lonely  woman,  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land, 
that  finer  foresight  which  we  call  prophecy,  the  real 
presence  of  guardian  friends  in  a  higher  life.  As  the 
thoughtful  woman  who  told  me  most  that  I  have  written, 
said  :   "Spiritualism  is  Quakerism  enlarged  and  revised." 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  135 

LUCRF.TIA    MOTT. 

•'  Whose  eighty  years  but  added  grace, 
And  saiiither  meaning  to  her  face — 
The  look  of  one  who  bore  away 
Glad  tidings  from  the  hills  of  day. 
While  all  our  hearts  went  forth  to  meet, 
The  coming  of  her  beautiful  feet !  " 

Twenty  years  ago  Lucretia  Mott  visited  some  friends  in 
Washington,  and  was  asked  to  speak  in  the  Unitarian 
Church  on  Sunday  morning.  It  was  in  the  days  when 
Civil  Rights  and  like  measures  were  discussed,  call- 
ing out  more  moral  enthusiasm  than  usual.  It  was  the 
old  church,  in  the  steeple  of  which  hung  the  bell  given  to 
the  society  by  John  Quincy  Adams.  Wife  and  myself 
went  a  half  hour  before  the  time,  and  found  the  house  well 
filled.  When  the  hour  came  it  was  with  great  difficulty 
that  Mrs.  Mott  found  her  way  through  the  crowded  aisles 
to  the  pulpit.  The  house  was  packed  with  a  remark- 
able audience — the  most  thoughtful  intelligence  from  the 
middle  classes,  the  largest  ability  and  the  highest  charac- 
ter from  those  eminent  in  official  rank.  All  listened  with 
reverent  attention.  It  was  a  simple  appeal  for  fidelity  in 
daily  life  and  duty,  with  little  mention  of  topics  in  con- 
troversy ;  yetbrief  sentences  on  some  great  matter  seemed 
like  volumes,  and  an  ineffable  tenderness  melted  and 
subdued  all  possible  prejudice. 

Before  an  audience  she  had  an  air  of  commanding  dig- 
nity, softened  by  womanly  grace  and  sympathy.  Her 
figure  was  slight  and  not  above  middle  height,  her  features 
sweet,  strong  and  beautiful,  her  manner  of  speaking  direct 
and  natural,  with  few  gestures.  The  simplest  words  had 
new  significance,  because  they  were  her  words,  freighted 
with  something  of  her  own  insight  and  uplifting  power. 

For  more  than  half  a  century  that  potent  and  persuasive 
voice  was  heard  in  many  great  meetings,  pleading  for  the 
enslaved  negro,  for   woman's   equality,   for  temperance, 


J ^6  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

for  liberty  of  conscience  in  religion  and  fidelity  to  the  light 
within.  During  all  that  time  her  social  influence  was  large 
and  delightful,  and  meanwhile  no  duty  of  wife  or  mother 
or  housekeeper  was  neglected.  Her  long  wedded  life 
with  James  Mott — a  husband  worthy  of  such  a  wife — was 
happy  and  harmonious. 

One  of  the  last  times  we  saw  her  was  in  the  Centennial 
summer.  We  rode  out  on  a  lovely  June  day,  to  the  beau- 
tiful suburbs  of  Philadelphia,  to  the  home  of  her  daughter 
Maria  Mott  Davis  and  Edward  M.  Davis.  Sitting  by  an 
open  window  in  her  rocking  chair,  looking  out  on  the 
wide  space  of  grass  and  flowers  and  sheltering  trees,  with 
her  work-basket  by  her  side  and  busy  sewing  for  the  chil- 
dren, was  our  dear  friend.  Near  her  was  a  roll  of  hand- 
some rag  carpet,  the^material  for  which  she  had  prepared 
herself.  Then,  as  in  all  her  life,  these  household  tasks 
were  pleasant,  and  her  industry  was  constant.  Eighty 
years  had  begun  to  tell  on  the  physical  frame,  yet  she  was 
erect  as  ever,  and  as  clear  in  mind  and  spirit.  An  hour's 
talk  showed  the  same  fresh  and  lively  interest  in  passing 
events,  the  same  tender  thoughts  of  friends  far  and  near 
as  in  years  gone  by  ;  with  a  word  now  and  then  of  quiet 
and  serene  looking  forward  to  the  great  change  which  she 
knew  could  not  be  far  away.  As  we  sat  in  the  carriage  by 
the  steps  of  the  porch,  just  ready  to  leave,  she  said  : 
"Catharine,  let  me  give  thee  a  copy  of  my  talk  on  woman, 
more  than  thirty  years  ago,  the  only  word  of  mine  ever 
put  in  print,  in  book  or  pamphlet,"  and  then  turned  to- 
ward the  door,  tripping  across  the  floor  erect  and  bright 
as  a  girl,  and  soon  coming  back  with  the  pamphlet.  In  1878 
shemadethelongjourneyto  Rochester,  New  York,  to  attend 
the  third  decade  meeting  in  commemoration  of  the  first 
M'oman's  suffrage  meeting  in  the  country  at  Seneca  Falls, 
New  York,  June,  1848,  and  we  met  her  at  a  private  house 
several  times.  She  would  take  her  toast  and  tea,  rest  in  quiet 
on  the  sofa  a  half  hour,  ask  to  be  called  up,  come  among  us 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  137 

again  fresh  and  charming-  as  ever,  and  go  across  the  yard 
to  the  Unitarian  church  where  the  Convention  met,  ready- 
to  bear  her  testimony  to  the  waiting  audience  that  tilled  it. 
She  did  a  great  work  in  breaking  up  the  narrow  way 
of  Friends  in  "  keeping  out  of  the  mixture,"  and  not  join- 
ing with  "the  world's  people"  outside,  in  any  reform. 
Her  leading  idea  she  made  a  motto  in  later  years  :  "Truth 
for  authority,  not  authority  for  truth."  The  breaking  up 
of  Quaker  exclusiveness  and  of  sectarian  prejudice;  the 
advocacy  of  religious  liberty  ;  noble  efforts  for  reform 
and  impartial  freedom  ;  and  the  daily  doing  of  kindly  and 
useful  deeds,  made  up  her  life-work,  and  strong  intellect 
and  perfectness  of  womanly  character  made  it  great  and 
excellent. 


138  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


ISAAC  T.    HOPPER. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  meet  Isaac  T.  Hopper  several 
times — not  only  one  of  the  best,  but  one  of  the  hand- 
somest men  I  ever  saw.  His  personal  resemblance  to  the 
great  Napoleon  was  so  striking  that  Joseph  Bonaparte, 
seeing  him  in  the  street  in  New  York,  exclaimed  :  "  Who 
is  that  man  ?  Dress  him  in  Napoleon's  clothes  and  put 
him  in  Paris  and  he  could  raise  a  revolution  and  be  hailed 
as  my  brother  returned  to  France." 

His  mental  powers  had  a  Napoleonic  strength,  used  in 
far  different  ways.  His  fertility  of  resources  and  calm 
courage  in  baffling  a  slave-hunter  were  like  the  Emperors 
planning  of  a  campaign,  and  he  won  more  surely  than 
the  great  Frenchman.  Lydia  Maria  Child  has  told  the 
story  of  his  "True  Life."  Wife  and  myself  once  dined  at 
his  table  in  New  York.  He  seemed  like  a  well-kept  man 
of  fifty-five,  the  gray  hardly  seen  in  his  dark  hair.  As 
we  left  he  sent  a  message  to  her  father — for  they  had  been 
members  of  the  same  Friends'  Society,  co-workers  in 
reform,  and  fast  friends.  Standing  erect  and  vigorous 
before  us,  he  gave  me  his  farewell,  and  then  turned  to 
her  and  said  :  "  Catherine,  I  want  thee  to  tell  thy  father — 
Benjamin  Fish — that  I  am  within  a  few  months  of  sev- 
enty-six years  old,  that  my  eye  is  not  dim  nor  my  natural 
strength  abated,  and  I  am  as  strong  for  war  as  ever."  It 
w^as  a  good  message  to  carry  home. 

Truth  compels  me  to  say  that  this  man  was  "  disowned  " 
by  the  Hicksite  Friends  in  New  York  !  The  pro-slavery 
element  could  not  abide  his  presence,  but  in  trying  to 
humiliate  him,  they  but  hurt  themselves.  To-day  that 
Society  would  honor  rather  than  disown  such  a  man. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEAKS.  139 

THOMAS    GARRETT. 

"  Happy  he  whose  inward  ear, 
Angel  comfortings  can  hear, 

O'er  the  rabble's  laughter  ; 
And,  while  hatred's  fagots  burn, 
Glimpses  through  the  smoke  discern. 
Of  the  good  hereafter." 

Whiteier. 

To  be  in  the  presence  of  Thomas  Garrett  was  like 
breathing-  fresh  and  vitalizing  air  ;  to  enjoy  his  hospitality 
was  like  sitting  "in  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a 
desert  land."  The  memory  of  visits  to  his  home  calls  up 
his  large  personality  and  protecting^  care.  He  was  the 
person  from  whom  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  pictured 
Simeon  Halliday,  the  fighting  Quaker  in  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin. 

His  long  life  was  a  lesson,  teaching  the  eminent  power 
of  integrity,  courage,  fidelity  to  conscience,  sagacity, 
persistent  energy,  and  a  most  sweet  and  tender  benev- 
olence. 

Born  and  raised  at  Darby,  near  Philadelphia,  among 
the  f>iends,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Hicksite  Society, 
and  retained  their  simplicity  of  dress  and  address  to  the 
last,  although  laying  small  stress  on  the  limitations  of 
discipline  or  sect. 

He  engaged  in  trade  in  Wilmington,  Delaware,  as  a 
hardware  merchant,  and  was  a  man  of  steady  industry 
and  careful  attention  to  business  details,  yet  always  found 
time  and  thought  for  the  affairs  of  his  society,  for  the 
reforms  in  which  he  was  engaged,  and  for  the  wants  of 
the  poor  and  the  enslaved.  He  was  master  of  his  busi- 
ness, but  never  allowed  that  business  to  master  and 
enslave  him,  and  thus  he  reached  beyond  it  and  made  its 
success  the  means  to  higher  and  broader  ends.  He  had 
admirable  health,  a  firm  and  strong  nervous  system,  great 
physical  strength  and  endurance  ;  all  well  fitted  to  obey 


I40  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVEXTY  YEARS. 

the  dictates  ot  a  will  strong,  persistent,  and  tenacious  to  a 
rare  degree,  yet  tempered  by  a  judgment  remarkably 
clear,  and  made  heroic  by  a  religious  obedience  to  con- 
science, which  carried  him  above  all  fear,  while  the  noble 
purity  of  his  life  kept  him  above  reproach,  save  for  opin- 
ion's sake,  and  for  that  he  cared  little. 

In  the  midst  of  a  slave-holding  community,  and  in 
days  when  abolitionism  was  heresy  and  treason  of  the 
darkest  dye,  and  the  helping  of  fugitive  slaves  to  escape 
the  worst  of  crimes,  he  was  an  open  abolitionist,  and  the 
daily  helper  of  fugitives. 

As  a  merchant,  dependent  on  such  a  community,  he 
never  sank  to  that  moral  cowardice  which  makes  traders 
barter  their  opinions  to  gain  custom,  or  cater  to  evil  prej- 
udices for  material  wealth. 

He  never  stinted,  for  he  could  not,  the  frankness  of  his 
speech  or  the  boldness  of  his  rebuke  ;  yet  his  words  were 
never  barbed  by  personal  malice  or  hatred.  He  would 
lift  the  sinner  above  his  sin — that  was  all. 

I  once  asked  him,  at  his  home,  if  slaveholders  traded 
with  him.  Pointing  to  a  large  store  near  by,  he  said  : 
"  Does  thee  see  that  shop  }  These  men  know  that  they 
can  trust  me,  for  I  say  what  I  think.  They  are  afraid  of 
the  men  over  there,  for  they  know  they  don't  say  what 
they  think,  and  so  they  deal  with  me,  yet  hate  my  opin- 
ions." 

Although  at  times  he  suffered  financially,  yet  he  never 
wavered,  and  so  won  at  last. 

His  house  was  a  refuge  and  stopping-place  for  fugitive 
slaves,  when  detection  w^ould  have  been  heavy  fine  and 
imprisonment,  and  peril  of  violent  death  ;  yet  his  mar- 
velous skill  and  vigilance  baffled  that  detection  for  years. 
I  listened  once  for  a  whole  dav  to  his  stories  of  device 
and  adventure,  told  with  a  simple  straightforwardness 
that  made  them  doubly  wonderful,  and  regret  that  they 
never  will  be  widely  known.      He  never  would  go  out  to 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  141 

the  plantations  after  slaves,  for  his  royal  integrity  spurned 
the  false  pretenses  he  thought  must  be  used,  and  his 
sagacity  showed  him  a  surer  way.  Through  tried  and 
true  friends  the  slave  found  his  way  at  night  to  his  house, 
and  thence  northward,  until  his  list  of  those  who  had  thus 
fled  "  out  of  the  gates  of  hell  "  reached  over  twenty-seven 
hundred  names. 

At  last  he  was  detected.  Coming  home  from  a  busi- 
ness trip  to  lower  Delaware,  some  colored  men  asked  for 
a  ride  in  his  carriage  ;  asking  no  questions,  he  granted  it, 
and  brought  them  a  few  miles.  They  got  out  at  a  cross- 
road and  he  came  home.  They  were  slaves,  he  had 
"aided  and  abetted"  in  their  escape,  and  there  was  great 
joy  among  the  baser  sort  of  slave-owners  when  "old 
abolition  Garrett"  was  in  their  hands.  He  was  fined  to 
the  full  extent — some  $3,000.  When  the  judge  had  closed 
his  long  charge  on  the  heinousness  of  the  offense,  Garrett 
said  :  "Is  thee  done,  friend .!•  "  and  when  the  judge  said 
"  Yes,'' he  replied  :  "I  mean  no  disrespect  to  thee,  for 
thee  is  doing  the  duty  of  thy  office  according  to  thy  idea, 
but  I  must  say  that  I  shall  feel  in  conscience  bound  to  do 
this  same  thing  again  when  the  way  opens." 

This  fine,  with  other  embarrassments,  compelled  him 
to  suspend  his  business.  After  paying  his  debts  he  had 
but  little  left.  And  now  came  the  triumph  of  character  ! 
Bankers  and  others,  slaveholdej^s  and  active  helpers  of 
such,  quietly  assured  him  of  their  credit  and  means.  He 
thanked  them,  waited  awhile,  accepted  such  help  as  he 
needed,  and  his  new  business  grew  far  larger  than  the 
old.  Years  before  his  death  he  retired  on  a  decent  com- 
petence, and  said  to  a  friend  :  "  Thee  knows  I  am  a  plain 
man;  wife  and  I  had  best  be  simple,  and  I  only  want  just 
a  penny  to  give  away  now  and  then." 

His  modest  penny  was  a  stream  of  daily  benevolence, 
and  frequent  generous  help  to  some  good  enterprise  or 
unpopular  reform.      His  wise  kindness  knew  no  limits  or 


142  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

distinctions  of  race  or  sect,  and  the  poor  Irish  loved  him 
with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  their  impulsive  natures.  Even 
their  pitiful  hatred  of  the  negro,  taught  them  in  this 
country,  melted  away  under  his  influence,  and  they  were 
quick  and  ready  to  help  the  fugitive  if  "Father  Garrett" 
wanted  them. 

I  once  heard  him  tell  with  great  glee,  for  keen  and 
shrewd  humor  was  part  of  his  nature,  of  the  escape  of  a 
slave  who  was  closely  pressed  by  her  pursuers,  darted 
down  an  alley  in  the  rear  of  his  house,  and  was  hastily 
thrust  through  a  gate  into  his  yard  by  a  kindly  Irish- 
man, who  only  had  time  to  say,  "Find  Thomas  Garrett 
and  you're  safe,  shure. "  It  was  a  dilemma,  as  his 
custom  was  not  to  take  in  fugitives  unless  there  had 
been  previous  notice  and  planning  to  keep  the  coast 
clear ;  but  there  the  poor  creature  was  at  evening,  and 
every  policeman  then  acting  with  the  slave  hunters  knew 
she  was  there.  Here  was  room  for  a  little  strategy,  and 
he  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  She  was  put  into  an  upper 
room,  fed  and  rested,  talked  with  kindly  and  made 
strong  in  spirit.  Some  friends  were  visiting  in  the  parlor 
below,  fronting  on  the  sidewalk,  and  the  grate  was  made 
bright  and  the  shutters  thrown  wide  open  that  all  passers 
by,    police  and  slave  hunters  included,  might  look  in. 

Thomas  and  his  wife  were  cheery  with  the  rest,  until 
she  said,  "Please  excuse  me  a  little  while  and  I'll  soon 
be  back,"  and  went  upstairs  to  dress  the  fugitive  in  a  cloak 
and  bonnet  of  her  own.  Soon  Thomas  goes  up  and  says  to 
the  woman  :  "Thee  must  take  my  arm,  keep  still,  walk 
up  like  any  white  lady,  don't  be  afraid,  and  I'll  take  thee 
out  safe."  Going  back  to  the  parlor,  hat  in  hand  and 
overcoat  on,  he  says,  "Please  excuse  me,  too,  a  little 
while,"  steps  to  the  stairs  and  calls  :  "Is  thee  ready.?" 
when  the  wife  stays  up,  and  down  comes  the  fugitive, 
with  Quaker  cloak  and  bonnet,  and  veil  to  protect  from  the 
chilly  air,  takes   his  arm,  he  opens  the   front  door,  and 


Ur  IV A  RD  S  TEPS  OF  SE  VENTY  YEA  RS.  \  4  3 

they  step  down   to  the  sidewalk,  and  go  quietly  past  two 
watchful  policemen,  Thomas  making  some  witty  remark 
to    a   passing   lad,   and  saying,  "How    is    thee?"    to    a 
policeman  whom  he  knew.     They  go  on  a  square  or  two, 
turn  some  corners,  stop  at  a  colored  man's  house,  some 
mystic  sign  is  made,  and  all  is  safe.      He  steps  out  of  a 
back  door,  goes  home  another  way,  enters  his  rear  yard, 
goes  upstairs,  and  down  to   the  parlor  with  his  wife,  and 
in  a  few  weeks  the  grateful  woman  he  had  thus  delivered 
finds  a  kind  friend  in  Canada  to  write   back  her  heartfelt 
blessings.      "  And  the  police  all  had  a  better  night's  sleep 
than  if  they  had  caught  the  poor  creature— and  felt  better 
all  next  day,  no  doubt,"  said  he  with  a  cheery  laugh,  as 
the  story  was  ended. 

Sometimes  he  faced  danger  with  a  w^ondrous  courage. 
Once  he  went  into  a  chamber  where  armed  men  were 
guarding  a  fugitive,  bound  with  ropes.  Pistols  were  aimed 
and  knives  drawn  upon  him,  but  he  had  no  fear,  trusted 
to  no  weapons,  and  subdued  and  conquered  all  by  the 
height  of  his  moral  courage,  the  blaze  of  his  righteous 
indignation,  and  the  marvelous  power  of  his  iron  will. 
In  sight  of  their  deathly  weapons  he  said:  "Put  them 
away,  none  but  cowards  use  such  things,"  and  walked 
boldly  to  the  slave,  cut  his  cords  with  a  penknife  and  led 
him  out  in  safety  and  peace. 

Doubtless  in  such  cases  the  large  proportions  of  his 
stalwart  frame,  and  the  sight  of  muscles  strong  as 
iron,  helped  him,  but  the  spiritual  force  of  a  heroic  soul 
won  the  victory.  I  once  asked  him  if  he  ever  laid  hands 
on  a  man.  "No,"said  he,  "  I  once  said  to  an  impudent 
constable,  'If  thee  don't  stop,  I'll  shake  thee.'"  Did  he 
stop?  Tasked.  With  a  quiet  but  hearty  laugh  he  answered 
' '  Yes,  he  did. "  From  early  life  he  felt  himself  especially 
and  divinely  called  to  his  anti-slavery  work  and  his  help 
of  fugitives,  and  that  the  Lord  was  with  him  in  his  efforts. 
In  his  religious  opinions  he  took  no  counsel  of  man,  in 


144  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

any  servile  sense.  By  Quaker  education  and  deep  con- 
viction he  sought  ever  to  be  true  to  the  "light  within," 
Reverent  in  spirit,  if  the  many  were  with  him  he  was 
o-lad  •  if  he  was  well-nigh  alone,  he  held  on  his  way 
rejoicing.  He  took  great  interest  in  the  yearly  meeting 
of  Progressive  Friends,  near  Kennett,  Pa.  I  once  rode 
with  him,  on  a  June  day,  through  twelve  miles  of  pleasant 
farms  from  his  home  to  their  Longwood  Meeting-House, 
and  greatly  enjoyed  his  wise  and  witty  talk.  For  years 
he  believed  in  the  presence  and  communion  of  the  spirits 
of  loved  ones,  "  not  lost  but  only  gone  before,"  which  is 
no  marvel,  as  the  spirit-world  must  seem  very  near  to  one 
living  in  the  presence  of  its  great  truths,  as  he  did.  He 
always  believed  and  advocated  the  religious  and  political 
equality  of  woman.  His  mental  vigor  and  buoyant  spirits 
held  on  to  the  end,  and  he  passed  peacefully  to  the  higher 
life  early  in  1871,  aged  over  seventy.  At  his  funeral,  the 
loving  request  of  the  colored  people  of  Wilmington  that 
they  might  take  charge  of  the  simple  ceremonies,  was  fitly 
granted,  and  they  gathered  in  large  numbers  to  mingle 
prayers  and  tears  over  all  that  was  mortal  of  one  they 
had  known  so  long  and  loved  so  well. 

Not  only  these,  but  thousands,  of  all  classes  and  con- 
ditions, of  all  sects  and  opinions,  took  part  by  their 
presence,  and  testified  their  respect  and  reverent  affection. 

He  was  the  American  Apostle  of  courage  in  daily  life 
and  of  practical  good  deeds,  and  his  long  career  of 
steadfast  bravery,  and  wise  benevolence  was  his  inspired 
Epistle. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  145 

Richard  Glazier. 

"The  Quaker  of  the  olden  time  !^ 
How  calm,  and  firm  and  true, 
Unspotted  by  its  wrong  and  crime, 

He  walked  the  dark  earth  through." 

In  1858  we  found  a  home  for  three  months  with 
Richard  Glazier  of  Ann  Arbor,  on  his  farm  among  the 
hills,  two  miles  from  town.  He  was  a  preacher  among 
Friends,  an  early  pioneer  settler,  a  man  of  positive 
will,  just  and  true,  and  of  remarkable  personal  weight 
of  character.  He  had  a  direct  and  searching  way 
of  appealing  to  the  moral  intuitions  that  disarmed 
all  prejudice.  I  remember  his  going  among  merchants 
and  others  to  get  money  to  help  a  fugitive  slave.  He 
approached  a  man  of  well-known  proslavery  views,  and 
said  to  him  :  "  I  have  a  black  man  at  my  house,  who  has 
fled  from  a  bad  master  and  wants  his  liberty.  I  am  satis- 
fied his  case  is  genuine.  In  thy  heart  thee  is  not  a  man 
who  wants  any  human  being  oppressed  or  badly  treated. 
I  want  thee  to  help  this  poor  man."  The  help  was  readily 
given,  by  him  and  others  like  him,  whom  no  one  else 
would  have  thought  of  asking.  I  spoke  in  the  Court- 
house one  Sunday,  the  birthday  anniversary  of  Thomas 
Paine,  and  aimed  to  give  a  just  estimate  of  his  character. 
I  denied  the  current  stories  of  his  dissipated  habits  and 
wretched  death,  but  felt  that  a  part  of  the  audience  had 
little  faith  in  my  statements.  At  the  close  Richard  Glazier 
rose — a  familiar  figure  there,  upright  in  attitude  as  in 
spirit,  clad  in  plain  Quaker  garb,  his  broad-brimmed  white 
hat  on  his  head,  his  hands  resting  on  the  silver  top  of 
his  stout  cane  planted  firmly  on  the  floor.  Turning 
to  me  he  asked  :  "Is  there  freedom  for  me  to  say  a  few 
words  .'  "  Of  course  there  was,  and  all  wanted  to  hear. 
He  said  in  substance  :  "I  had  anear  friend,  Willett  Hicks, 
a  Quaker  well-known  in  New  York  city  as  a  business  man. 

He  had  a  farm  joining  that   of  Paine  at  New  Rochelle, 

10 


146  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

where  he  and  his  family  spent  their  summers.  A  path  led 
across  the  fields  between  their  houses,  and  they  passed  to 
and  fro  as  neighbors.  He  was  not  a  disciple  of  Paine, 
but  knew  him  in  this  way.  He  has  told  me  that  no  more 
liquor  was  used  in  Paine's  house  than  in  other  farmhouses 
near,  and  probably  not  so  much  ;  that  he  never  knew  Paine 
to  be  filthy  or  intoxicated,  or  heard  bad  language  from  him, 
but  that  he  was  plain  in  his  ways,  civil  and  well-behaved. 
During  his  last  sickness  some  of  the  family  were  at  the 
house  daily  and  never  saw  or  heard  of  any  of  the  strange 
scenes  described.  None  were  there  at  the  hour  of  his 
death,  but  from  a  reliable  person  who  was  there,  he  was 
told  that  he  passed  away  peacefully. "  When  my  friend 
Glazier  sat  down,  the  audience  was  convinced.  They 
knew  him  and  believed  him. 

Growing  feeble  in  health  he  moved  into  the  town  near 
the  grounds  of  the  State  University.  He  was  seventy 
years  old,  wasting  with  consumption,  but  his  mental 
powers  clear  as  ever.  In  these  last  years  we  were  told 
that  he  had  softened  in  manners  and  was  less  severe  in 
judgment  than  in  middle  life,  when  he  was  more 
rigidly  sectarian.  Professor  A.  D.  White,  late  Presient 
of  Cornell  University  at  Ithaca,  New  York,  was  near 
by  and  wanted  to  see  my  friend.  It  was  planned  that  we 
should  go  together,  and  we  found  him  propped  up  by 
pillows  and  able  to  converse.  He  asked  Mr.  White  to 
sit  beside  him,  expressed  pleasure  at  the  meeting,  and 
then  for  a  half-hour  spoke  with  a  wondrous  weight — an 
authority  as  of  one  with  long  experience,  and  now  so 
near  the  world  of  real  life  as  to  utter  its  higher  and  larger 
thought.  With  no  reference  to  any  doctrine  or  dogma, 
with  no  criticism  or  reflection  on  the  errors  of  others  in 
belief  or  practice,  he  dwelt  on  the  idea  of  God,  the 
Supreme  Spirit  in  all ;  the  nearness  and  naturalness  of  the 
life  beyond,  its  sure  reality,  and  the  glimpses  we  get  of  it ; 
the  priceless  worth  of  fidelity,  sincerity,  and  moral  courage, 


UPWARD  STEINS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  i^j 

the  sacredness  of  man's  inalienable  rights,  andthe  equality 
of  woman.  He  said  :  "lam  a  Spiritvialist,  for  God  is  a 
Spirit,"  and  then  more  directly  and  personally  addressed 
the  listener  by  his  side,  alluded  to  his  large  opportunities, 
his  fine  faculties  and  high  responsibilities,  and  urged  him 
to  persistence  and  growth  in  his  work  of  education,  so 
that  high  and  broad  thinking,  steadfast  courage,  and 
noble  harmony  of  character  in  his  students,  might  be  the 
result.  We  sat  in  reverent  silence  and  rapt  attention,  for 
the  impression  made  on  us  was  deep  and  peculiar.  Such 
an  hour  never  came  to  us,  never  will  again  probably  on 
earth.  It  was  as  though  a  wise  and  strong  angel  had 
spoken  ;  and  well  it  might  be,  for  he  was  very  near  that 
life  where  transfigured  human  beings  are  angels.  The 
inspiration  of  the  spirit  gave  him  an  understanding  won- 
derful and  impressive.  A  brief  and  easy  conversation 
followed.  He  said:  "  I  am  too  weak  to  say  more  ;  and  we 
must  part,"  and  we  clasped  hands  pleasantly  and  left. 
Standing  by  the  gate  Mr.  White  said  :  "  What  a  loss  to  me 
that  I  never  met  that  man  before  !  "  In  a  week  Richard 
Glazier  passed  quietly  away,  and  hundreds  gathered  reve- 
rently at  the  funeral  to  look  on  that  still  face — so  calm  and 
strong. 

YEARLY    MEETINGS PROGRESSIVE    FRIENDS. 

"  Early  hath  life's  mighty  question 

Thrilled  within  the  heart  of  youth, 
With  a  deep  and  strong  beseeching: 

What  and  where  is  truth  ?  " 

Forty  years,  or  more,  ago  a  desire  for  a  larger  freedom 
of  discussion  of  religious  progress  and  practical  reforms 
than  the  sects  or  parties  gave,  led  to  the  calling  of  yearly 
meetings,  at  Longwood,  Pennsylvania  and  Waterloo,  and 
North  Collins,  New  York,  the  two  first  under  the  name  of 
Prosfressive  Friends,  the  last  entitled  Friends  of  Human 
Progress.     The  Waterloo  meeting  has  ceased,  the  others 


148  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

are  still  kept  up,  the  attendance  large,  yet  not  as  great  as 
in  their  earlier  years.  This  is  not  from  a  decrease  of 
interest  in  their  aims,  but  because  more  doors  are  open 
elsewhere  for  free  thought  and  speech. 

These  movements  started  among  the  Quakers,  whose 
quiet  ways  saved  the  free  gatherings  from  turbulent  dis- 
putes, and  gave  them  decorous  dignity,  as  well  as  liberty. 
A  little  later  a  commodious  Free  Church  was  built  in 
Sturgis,  Michigan,  largely  by  Spiritualists  of  the  more 
weighty  sort,  where  for  thirty-five  years  have  been  held 
the  yearly  meetings  of  the  Harmonial  Society — still  useful 
and  influential  as  well  as  interesting.  At  all  these  places 
meetings  are  held  at  other  times  with  more  or  less  fre- 
quency,  but  the  annual  gatherings  are  notable  occasions, 
their  general  objects  the  same,  the  themes  discussed  vary- 
ing in  different  localities.  A  committee  invites  speak- 
ers, and  makes  the  needed  arrangements,  all  can  take 
part  in  the  discussions,  and  there  is  little  formality  of 
membership.  The  Longwood  meeting-house  stands 
amidst  pleasant  farms  near  Kennett,  Chester  county,  the 
former  home  of  Bayard  Taylor  at  his  "Cedarcroft"  farm. 
An  ancient  Quaker  meeting-house  near  Waterloo  was  used 
for  that  meeting.  A  large  hall  in  a  grove  near  the  railroad 
is  the  North  Collins  gathering  place, — hospitable  people 
near,  entertaining,  doors  and  hearts  open,  and  the  social 
hours  very  pleasant.  Anti-slavery,  temperance,  peace, 
woman-suffrage,  religious  ideas,  Spiritualism,  and  other 
living  questions  were  taken  up,  with  earnest  utterance 
of  differing  opinions,  and  an  avoidance  of  heated  contro- 
versy. For  instance,  at  Longwood  I  once  heard  an  ortho- 
dox cleryman  speak  in  favor  of  his  idea  of  Christ's  atone- 
ment, and  Garrison  reply,  mutual  respect  ruling  the 
hour. 

From  a  thousand  to  over  four  thousand  was  the  usual 
attendance  at  the  rustic  Hemlock  Hall  at  North  Collins. 
There  and  at  other  like  meetings  I  have  met  Oliver  John- 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  149 

son,  Rev.  Charles  G.  Ames,  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May,  C.  C. 
Burleigh,  C.  D.  B.  Mills,  Susan  B.  Anthony,  Mrs.  E.  C. 
Stanton,  W.  L.  Garrison,  Frederick  Douglass,  Parker  Pills- 
bury,  George  W.  Taylor,  Henry  C.  Wright,  Sojourner 
Truth,  Selden  J.  Finney,  Mrs.  LydiaA.  Pearsall  and  others, 
and  have  heard  excellent  words  eloquently  spoken. 

The  good  order  and  good  conduct  at  the  gatherings 
was  remarkable.  In  the  old  anti-slavery  days  there 
were  angry  threats  sometimes,  but  never  an  outbreak. 
One  morninir  I  reached  Hemlock  Hall  to  attend  the  North 
Collins  meeting  and  met  my  friend  Joseph  Taylor.  He 
came  to  the  platform  just  before  the  meeting  opened,  and 
we  shook  hands.  Something  in  his  manner  impressed  me 
singularly.  His  tall  and  stalwart  form  seemed  stronger 
than  usual,  his  face  had  an  aspect  of  quiet  resolution,  he 
seemed  like  a  charged  battery,  and  took  his  seat  on  the 
platform,  which  he  usually  did  not  do. 

The  meeting  opened  with  a  searching  anti-slavery  dis- 
cussion in  which  I  took  part,  looking  occasionally  at  my 
friend  who  sat  erect  and  resolute  as  though  ready  to  "  put 
ten  thousand  to  flight."  All  passed  along  quietly  as  I 
supposed  it  would,  and  it  was  some  days  after,  at  Joseph 
Taylor's  house,  that  he  solved  the  riddle  forme,  "Did 
you  know  why  I  sat  on  the  platform  at  the  hall .?"  he 
asked,  and  I  replied,  no.  ''Well,"  said  he,  "I  heard 
that  some  fellows  were  going  to  fling  you  off  the  platform 
if  you  made  an  abolition  speech,  and  I  kept  close  by  to 
have  a  hand  in  the  business.  I  thought  it  was  well  for 
"some  fellows"  that  he  did  not  "have  a  hand  in,"  and 
my  heart  went  out  to  my  dear  brave  friend  for  his  watch- 
fulness. 

I  can  see  the  old  meeting-house  near  Waterloo,  brown 
and  bare  in  Quaker  plainness,  its  grassy  yard  with  the 
great  forest  trees,  and  the  fruitful  fields  and  orchards 
all  around,  as  I  saw  it  one  pleasant  June  Sunday  noon, 
thirty  years  ago.     The  shaded  yard  was  full  of    people. 


Ijo  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

table-cloths  were  being  spread  on  the  grass,  an  abund- 
ance of  food  coming  out  of  big  baskets  and  piled  on  these 
cloths  by  good  women,  while  the  pleasant  talk  of  the 
waiting  groups  around  cheered  their  task.  In  one  of 
these  groups  was  Samuel  J.  May,  the  gentle  yet  heroic 
soul,  of  whom  Theodore  Parker  said:  "  Where  brother 
May  is  it  is  perpetual  May."  He  was  given  a  seat  on 
the  grass  where  he  could  lean  against  the  trunk  of  a  great 
tree,  and  when  asked  what  he  especially  wanted  spoke 
of  tea.  A  fragrant  cup  of  his  favorite  beverage  was 
brought  him,  food  abundant  and  delicious  came  with  it, 
and  his  aspect  of  happy  and  grateful  enjoyment  is  perfect 
as  ever  in  my  mind's  eye.  Many  pleasant  remembrances 
of  the  goodly  companionship  of  "the  thoughtful  and  the 
free"  come  up  in  connection  with  these  valuable  meet- 
ings. They  have  served  as  excellent  training-schools, 
teaching  people  to  speak  the  truth  for  truth's  sake,  not 
for  combat,  to  hear  fairly  diverse  honest  opinions,  to  dis- 
tinguish between  orderly  liberty  and  disorderly  license, 
to  be  firm  for  the  right  and  ready  to  gain  more  light. 

At  a  later  date  grove  meetings,  and  great  camp  meetings 
of  spiritualists  and  the  liberal  denominations  have  been 
organized,  of  which  the  popular  newspapers  make  but 
slight  mention.  The  total  attendance  at  these  meetings 
may  be  250,000,  or  over. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  151 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SOME  OF  THE  WORLD's  HELPERS  AND  LIGHT-BRINGERS. 

The  world's  saviours  are  the  best  men  and  women 
who  have  lived,  and  are  living  on  earth.  This  "house  of 
David  "  endures.  Wise  men  without  guile,  holy  mothers, 
useful  Marthas  and  waiting  Marys,  are  here,  and  will 
be.  Seers  and  prophets,  and  leaders  of  men,  dwell  along 
our  blue  rivers  and  lakes,  as  others  dwelt  by  Jordan 
and  Genesaret.  Life  in  Judea  was  made  more  divine  by 
the  presence  of  the  carpenter's  son,  and  the  tishermen  and 
tent  makers,  of  whom  the  Testament  gives  brief  record. 
Life  in  America  is  made  more  divine  by  the  presence  of 
our  best  and  truest.  Without  Garrison  and  Parker,  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  Lucretia  Mott,  Peter  Cooper,  and  Harriet 
Beecher  Stowe,  our  light  would  be  dim.  Others,  too 
many  to  name,  have  added  to  our  imperishable  wealth. 
Some  of  these  are  widely  known  ;  some  are  unknown. 
Of  the  last  Carlyle  said  :  "These  noble,  silent  men, 
scattered  here  and  there,  each  in  his  own  department  ; 
silently  thinking,  silently  working  ;  whom  no  morning 
newspaper  takes  notice  of;  they  are  the  salt  of  the  earth. 
A  country  that  has  none,  or  few  of  these,  is  in  a  bad 
way ;  like  a  forest  which  has  no  roots  ;  which  has  all 
turned  into  leaves  and  boughs  ;  which  must  soon  wither 
and  be  no  forest." 

No  land  is  better  rooted  than  ours,  and  the  strong,  deep 
roots  hold  the  earth  together  and  make  our  ground  solid. 
There  are  more  of  these  noble  men  and  women  than 
hopeless  pessimists  think.     Of  a  few  whom  I  have  for- 


152  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

tunately  known  I  make  brief  record.     Others  as  worthy 
must  pass  by. 

"Only  remembered  by  what  they  have  done." 

It  is  impossible  to  write  of  those  yet  living  among  us  ; 
they  are  too  many,  and  their  work  here  is  not  done.  It 
would  be  invidious  to  select  from  them,  but  from  such  as 
have  passed  on  we  can  choose  freely,  and  they  will  not 
be  troubled,  even  if  they  know  it,  as  perchance  thty 
may. 

JOHN     D.    ZIMMERMAN — THE     MICHIGAN     VILLAGE     BLACKSMITH 

AN    UNKNOWN    GREAT    MAN. 

"  No  longer  with  self  or  with  nature  at  strife,  * 
The  soul  feels  the  presence  of  infinite  Life  : 
And  the  voice  of  a  child  or  the  hum  of  a  bee — 
The  somnolent  roll  of  the  deep-heaving  sea — 
The  mountains,  uprising  in  grandeur  and  might— 
The  stars  that  look  forth  from  the  depth  of  the  night — 
All  speak  in  one  language,  persuasive  and  clear. 
To  him  who  in  spirit  is  waiting  to  hear. ' ' 

Lizzie  Doten. 

Thirty  years  ago  or  more  I  left  the  Michigan  Southern 
Railway  at  Coldwater,  rode  north  in  a  stage  fourteen 
miles,  crossed  the  St.  Joseph  River,  and  went  up  the  slope 
on  its  north  side  to  the  high  table-land  on  which  stood 
Union  City,  then  a  pleasant  village  of  a  thousand  people, 
amidst  beautiful  farms  and  groves,  now  a  much  larger 
town.  I  went  to  find  John  D.  Zimmerman.  Turning  east 
a  short  distance,  his  plain  story-and-a-half  house  was  in 
sight,  facing  south  and  overlooking  the  winding  stream 
and  the  broad  meadows.  West  from  the  dwelling  was  an 
orchard,  in  front  great  forest  trees,  east  a  grove  of  noble 
oaks  in  the  deep  yard  of  a  neighbor. 

A  rap  at  the  door  called  out  a  strongly-built  man,  who 
gave  his  welcome  word  in  a  deep,  rich  voice,  and  with  a 
frank  simplicity  singularly  attractive,  and  the  quiet  kind- 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  153 

ness  of  his  wife  made  the  house  a  home.  We  stepped  inti) 
the  sunny,  low-ceiled  southeast  room,  in  which  so  many 
pleasant  hours  were  passed  in  after  days,  and  I  noticed  a 
larg-e  book-case  in  the  corner,  its  contents  costing  more 
than  all  the  simply  comfortable  furniture  around  it.  The 
best  books  were  there — all  of  Emerson's  among  them. 
The  kind  of  books  one  finds  in  a  house  gives  some  gauge 
of  the  range  and  quality  of  thought  of  its  inmates.  As  he 
sat  in  his  arm-chair  waiting  for  dinner  I  said  :  "  You  read 
Emerson,  I  see."  His  wonderful  blue  eyes  lighted  up, 
and  his  mellow  voice  had  new  musicas  he  replied  :  "  Of 
course  I  do,  over  and  over  again."  After  dinner  he  said, 
"  I  must  go  to  my  blacksmith  shop,"  and  I  soon  found 
him  there  stoutly  swinging  his  hammer,  as  he  did  for 
forty  years.  His  visible  work  was  forging  and  shaping 
iron  to  useful  ends  ;  this  all  could  appreciate,  and  it  was 
good  and  true  ;  his  invisible  work  was  forging  and  shap- 
ing thoughts,  this  but  few  could  so  vi'ell  appreciate,  but  it 
was  good  and  true  also.  When  both  these  go  on  together 
life  is  noble  and  commanding,  as  in  his  case. 

At  night  we  went  to  the  plain  Congregational  Church 
near  by  to  find  a  good  audience  at  an  anti-slavery  meeting. 

So  began  one  of  the  most  delightful  and  beneficial 
friendships  of  my  life,  to  last  for  more  than  twenty  years. 

After  coming  home  that  night  he  told  me  he  had 
belonged  to  that  church,  but  had  changed  his  views  and 
was  not  in  unity  with  their  creed.  He  felt  that  honesty 
required  that  he  should  state  his  dissent,  and  soon  a  church 
meeting  was  called,  and  one  of  the  deacons  asked  him  to 
attend.  He  went,  asked  if  there  were  any  charges  against 
his  conduct,  and  was  answered  :  "None,  we  hold  you  in 
high  personal  esteem,  but  our  rules  require  that  you  should 
not  be  a  member  as  you  do  not  accept  our  doctrines." 
The  usual  course  in  such  cases  involved  a  censure  for 
heresy.  He  said  :  "  I  do  not,  and  cannot,  believe  your 
creed.     You  who  can,  have  a  right  to  do  so,  which  I  re- 


154  LTPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

spect.  I  offer  a  resolution,  and  will  go  home  for  you  to 
act  as  you  please,"  and  then  read  and  laid  on  the  table  a 
resolve  as  follows  :  Whereas,  our  brother  John  D,  Zimmer- 
man has  so  modified  his  opinions  that  he  cannot  honestly 
continue  to  profess  belief  in  our  doctrines,  therefore, 

'■'Resolved,  That  he  be  allowed  to  leave  our  member- 
ship. " 

In  an  hour  the  good  deacon,  his  next  neighbor,  came 
in  and  said  they  had  passed  the  resolve  unanimously,  yet 
with  much  regret,  and  with  the  feeling  that  they  should 
continue  friends,  as  they  did,  without  censure  or  casting 
reflections  on  either  side. 

Years  before  a  fugitive  slave  came  to  Zimmerman's 
house,  and  his  claimant  came  soon  after — not  his  owner, 
but  an  agent  fit  for  such  base  work.  Just  at  night  he  rode 
up  to  the  blacksmith  shop,  sprang  from  his  horse,  walked 
up  to  its  owner,  who  stood  by  his  anvil,  and  shook  his  fist 
in  his  face,  with  threats  and  oaths.  A  blow  from  that  stal- 
wart arm  would  have  felled  him  to  the  ground,  but 
Zimmerman  said,  "This  is  a  case  for  law,  not  for  a  fight  ; 
come  with  me  to  a  justice." 

There  was  a  quiet  command  in  voice  and  eye  that  sub- 
dued wrath,  and  in  five  minutes  they  were  peacefully  on 
their  way  together  to  a  law  office,  and  the  slave  hunter 
was  asked  home  for  the  night,  but  his  host  said  :  "  I  have  an- 
other guest  at  my  house.  He  shall  treat  you  well,  and  I 
expect  you  to  treat  him  well.  He  is  the  man  you  claim 
as  a  slave."  The  astonished  hunter  of  men  did  not  see 
the  other  guest  that  night.  In  the  morning  he  was  late, 
being  worn  out  with  long  riding  :  his  host  went  to  call 
him  and  was  asked  into  the  chamber.  A  valise  laid  open 
on  the  bed,  evidently  to  display  a  pair  of  fine  revolvers 
and  a  bowie  knife.  Picking  up  a  revolver  Zimmerman 
remarked:  "These  are  pretty  fair  weapons,  but  we 
don't  think  much  of  them  up  here  ;  our  rifles  are 
surer    and   have   longer    range."     They    met    the   slave 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  155 

in  the  breakfast-room,  who  was  greeted  with  a  cool 
nod  by  his  claimant.  They  were  seated  at  table  on 
either  side  of  their  host,  the  Southerner  conquered 
his  prejudices,  and  all  was  quiet.  This  lasted  some 
days,  until  one  morning  the  colored  man  was  gone, 
none  knew  where.  The  baffled  pursuer  swore  and  raved, 
but  was  told,  with  decided  firmness,  that  such  talk  could 
not  be  allowed  in  a  decent  house,  and  so  saddled  his  steed 
and  went  southward.  The  colored  man  was  heard  of  a 
year  after,  and  lived  safely  a  long  time  in  this  State.  In 
all  the  varied  annals  of  underground  railroad  experiences 
no  like  case  can  be  found.  It  illustrates  the  majesty  of 
magnetic  control  and  command,  the  great  power  of  my 
friend's  personal  presence — a  power  which  makes  such  a 
man,  at  his  anvil  and  clad  in  leather  apron,  more  imposing 
than  a  king  on  his  throne,  tricked  out  in  his  royal  robes. 
In  1876  he  spent  a  month  in  Philadelphia  at  the  Cen- 
tennial. With  a  mind  large  enough  to  take  in  and  compare 
its  varied  aspects,  with  practical  skill  in  mechanism  and 
a  native  taste  for  artistic  beauty,  the  time  was  full  of  enjoy- 
ment and  profit.  It  took  a  comprehensive  range  of  thought 
to  fully  appreciate  that  Exhibition  ;  narrow  and  common- 
place people  were  dazed  and  confusedly  pleased,  but  such 
a  man  would  be  enriched  and  instructed.  While  there  he 
stopped  at  the  Atlas  Hotel — a  vast  temporary  caravansary 
near  the  grounds,  holding  a  thousand  guests  or  more. 
One  Sunday  its  great  central  room  had  a  platform  and  seats 
extemporized,  and  some  hundreds  sat  to  hear  a  sermon. 
He  joined  the  rest,  and  soon  found  that  the  preacher  was 
laying  out  the  "  scheme  of  salvation  "  in  such  a  way  as  to 
send  all  the  race  into  eternal  torment,  save  a  pitiful  little 
company  specially  elected  and  saved.  He  felt  indignant 
and  stepped  quietly  to  the  platform  while  a  hymn  was 
being  sung  to  ask  the  privilege  of  making  a  few  remarks, 
which  was  rudely  denied.  Taking  his  seat  again,  he 
waited  until  the  audience  were  dismissed,  and  then  rose 


156  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

and  said  :  "I  have  something  to  say  for  a  few  minutes, 
and  will  ask  such  as  choose  to  sit  and  hear  me."  The 
mao-ic  of  that  deep  voice  and  a  curious  wish  to  hear,  kept 
most  in  their  places,  and  he  said,  in  substance:  "This 
Centennial  is  a  sign  of  the  fraternity  of  mankind.  It 
shows  that  we  are  drawing  toward  the  era  of  peace  on 
earth  and  good-will  among  men.  Christian  and  Pagan, 
all  sects  and  races,  come  here  from  the  four  quarters  of 
the  earth  in  amity  and  mutual  respect.  This  very  room 
is  decked  with  the  flags  of  many  nations,  displayed  to- 
gether in  token  of  this  unity  of  spirit  We  live  in  the 
nineteenth  century  with  its  broad  thought  and  growing 
charity,  its  willingness  to  search  for  truth  wherever  found. 
This  poor  man  whom  you  have  heard  takes  us  back  to 
the  Dark  Ages,  and  tells  us  of  a  God  cruel  and  unjust 
enough  to  doom  to  the  fiery  pit  forever  almost  all  the 
human  race.  I  protest  against  this  Phariseeism,  and 
against  this  horrible  conception  of  the  wrath  of  God  and 
the  wretchedness  of  man.  I  ask  you  to  repudiate  these 
degrading  errors,  to  think  of  man's  capacity  for  eternal 
progress,  to  know  that  good  deeds  are  the  sure  warrant 
of  salvation  before  that  God  who  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons. How  enlarging  it  is  to  see  good  men  from  every 
land  and  of  every  religion  meeting  here  and  learning  so 
much  of  each  other.  If  you  and  I  live  so  as  to  be  fit  for 
their  society,  we  shall  find  them  in  heaven  above." 

Doubtless  he  was  deeply  stirred  and  inspired.  For 
fifteen  minutes  the  people  sat  as  though  entranced,  and 
the  preacher  was  dumb  with  amazement.  The  next  day 
many  came  to  express  their  gratitude,  and  their  unity  with 
his  sentiments.  A  son  of  John  Brown  of  Harper's  Ferry 
was  one  of  the  first  to  thank  him,  and  for  hours  others 
filled  the  time  in  like  way. 

His  life,  as  people  saw  it,  was  that  of  a  steady  work- 
man, whose  work  was  honest ;  of  a  man  whose  word 
was  good,  whose  practical  judgment  was  sound,  whose 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  157 

presence  and  manners  had  a  charm  and  power  which  was 
not  understood,  and  who  had  some  strange  notions,  but 
who  was  greatly  respected  and  esteemed. 

The  great  wonderland  of  thought  in  which  he  lived  few 
visited  with  him.  He  read  the  best  books — the  ripest 
religious  and  spiritual  thought  of  our  day  gaining  most 
attention.  He  did  not  read  too  much,  and  therefore 
could  better  inwardly  digest  his  reading.  He  seldom 
spoke  in  public,  and  wrote  little,  but  the  little  he  said  or 
wrote  had  singular  beauty.  No  richer  thinker  or  con- 
versationalist  in  private  did  I  ever  meet.  I  used  to  wish, 
while  listening  to  him  as  he  sat  in  the  winter  evening, 
in  his  old  arm-chair,  with  his  feet  before  the  fire  on 
a  stool,  that  I  could  transport  him  to  a  circle  of  the  best 
students  and  thinkers  and  enjoy  their  delight  in  his  wise 
and  charming  talk.  Emerson  would  have  made  a  pil- 
grimage to  Michigan  to  meet  him  had  he  known  of  him. 

His  home  was  the  place  to  know  him.  There  his  grace 
and  wealth  of  life  bloomed  out  in  word  and  deed.  To 
spend  a  day  at  that  home  was  a  pleasure  and  a  privilege 
not  to  be  forgotten.  Taking  no  leading  part  in  the  affairs 
of  the  town,  the  toil  in  his  shop,  the  duties  and  joys  of  his 
home,  and  the  golden  hours  spent  in  his  own  inner  world 
divided  his  time. 

His  knowledge  of  the  great  world's  wants  was  wide,  he 
felt  the  set  of  its  tides,  his  interest  in  practical  reforms  was 
earnest,  his  views  clear,  his  literary  taste  excellent.  In 
conversation  his  language  was  singularly  choice,  yet 
wholly  natural  and  unaffected.  His  wonderful  eyes  were 
eloquent,  his  mellow  voice  thrilled  with  enthusiasm  and 
its  deep  tones  revealed  the  power  of  a  great  soul.  He 
might  well  have  said  with  the  old  poet : 

"My  mind  to  me  a  kingdom  is." 

There  was  a  fine  courtesy  and  simplicity  in  his  manner, 
and  a  flash  of  fire  and  an  uprising  of  power  when  a  wrong 


158  UPWARD  S TEPS  OF  S E VENTY  YEARS. 

was  to  be  righted  or  a  meanness  rebuked.  Of  no  sect  in 
theoloofy  he  kept  firm  hold  of  the  great  foundations  of 
religious  faith,  and  felt  that  he  knew  of  the  life  beyond 
and  of  the  gates  ajar  between  that  life  and  ours  on  earth. 
The  last  time  that  I  saw  him  was  on  a  bright  day  in  Feb- 
ruary, not  long  before  his  departure. 

His  working  days  were  over,  his  time  was  full  of 
thought,  his  spiritual  nature  ripening,  his  books  opening 
new  mines  to  be  explored,  his  social  faculties  illuminated. 

Coming  out  of  our  room  in  the  morning,  wife  and  I 
found  him  sitting  in  his  easy-chair,  the  sun  shining  into 
the  windows  and  tinging  the  clouds  with  golden  light. 
He  rose  to  greet  us  with  a  noble  grace,  his  fine  eyes 
lighted  up  eloquently,  and  he  said  :  "What  a  bright 
morning !  The  air  is  pure,  and  the  good  spirits  are 
numerous,  and  hospitable,  and  busy  all  about  us." 

In  September,  1884,  I  was  at  Union  City,  Just  at  night 
I  walked  past  the  house  and  was  glad  to  find  its  appear- 
ance unchanged.  Going  beyond  it,  along  the  roadside 
imder  the  shade  of  the  trees  to  enjoy  the  outlook  south- 
ward over  the  pleasant  valley,  and  winding  river,  I 
turned  back  for  one  more  sight  of  the  home,  and  saw 
Mrs.  Zimmerman  in  the  yard — a  surprise,  as  I  had  sup- 
posed she  was  absent.  Going  into  the  familiar  sitting- 
room  I  learned  from  her  something  of  the  last  hours  on 
earth  other  beloved  husband. 

His  illness  was  but  short  and  not  very  painful  ;  his 
mind  clear,  and  his  command  of  language  perfect  to  the 
last.  They  hardly  realized  how  near  the  end  was,  most 
of  the  family  were  with  him,  and  he  soon  felt  that  the 
great  change  was  near.  His  wife  said  to  me  :  "It  was 
so  wonderful  to  us  all.  Much  as  we  loved  him,  it  did  not 
seem  like  a  death-bed,  but  the  whole  air  seemed  full  of  a 
glory  and  beauty  which  gave  us  comfort  and  joy.  All 
felt  peace.  It  was  a  serene  hour.  He  said  to  me:  'Tell 
all  my  friends  that  my  faith  is  unchanged,  and  my  views 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


159 


of  life  and  immortality  the  same.  As  I  draw  near  to  the 
end  all  is  more  beautiful  and  peaceful.'  A  clergyman,  who 
was  with  them  as  a  neighbor  and  friend,  said  he  never 
saw  so  beautiful  a  death-bed.  A  neighboring  woman  some 
hours  after,  as  she  stood  looking  at  the  face,  so  noble  in 
its  sweet  majesty,  exclaimed  :  'Can  this  be  death  !'" 
The  poet's  words  are  indeed  true  : 

' '  The  chamber  where  the  good  man  meets  his  fate, 
Is  privileged  beyond  the  common  walks 
Of  life,  quite  in  the  verge  of  heaven." 

At  the  age  of  sixty-five,  he  passed  away,  in  May,  1879. 

Such  was  John  D.  Zimmerman,  the  village  blacksmith ; 
one  of  the  most  gifted  of  the  goodly  company  of  unknown 
great  men  and  women  who  add  far  more  to  the  wealth  of 
life  and  to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  State  than  we 
realize. 

A    LESSON    IN    MANLINESS    AND    INDUSTRY WILLIAM    S.   PRENTISS. 

"  Such  was  our  friend,  formed  on  the  good  old  plan, 
A  true  and  brave  and  downright  honest  man ! 
His  daily  prayer,  far  better  understood 
In  acts  than  words,  was  simply  doing  good. 
So  calm,  so  constant,  was  his  rectitude. 
That  by  his  loss  alone  we  know  his  worth, 
And  feel  how  true  a  man  has  walked  with  us  on  earth." 

Whittier. 

We  may  well  keep  in  mind  the  noble  qualities  of  a 
goodly  number  of  our  Western  pioneers — the  men  and 
women  who  toiled  and  delved  in  the  solitude  of  forest  or 
prairie,  fraternally  helped  each  other,  met  hospitably,  and 
had  that  large  manhood  and  womanhood  which  spurns 
all  meanness  and  keeps  home  bright  and  the  heart 
true. 

We  owe  them   a  priceless  debt.     Not   only  did  they 


l6o  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

make  our  external  comfort  and  abundance  possible,  but 
from  them  came  some  of  the  noblest  and  most  beautiful 
elements  of  our  civilization. 

William  S.  Prentiss  was  one  of  this  illustrious  company, 
great  in  heart  and  life,  but  unknown  to  fame,  as  are  most 
of  them.  Abraham  Lincoln  belonged  to  the  same  com- 
pany, and  the  virtues  of  his  public  life  were  the  virtues 
of  his  pioneer  life  practiced  in  a  wider  field. 

Sixty  years  ago  young  Prentiss  went  from  Petersham, 
Worcester  County,  Massachusetts,  to  Cambridge  to  be  a 
student  in  Harvard  College.  His  health  gave  way,  and 
he  consulted  Dr.  John  C.  V^arren,  an  eminent  and  saga- 
cious physician.  The  doctor  learned  his  antecedents  of 
parentage  and  vocation,  and  then  said  :  "Young  man, 
you  can  take  your  choice,  keep  to  your  books  and  die,  or 
fling  them  away,  shoulder  an  axe,  and  strike  into  the  woods 
and  live."  This  was  the  truth  in  few  words.  The  books 
were  put  aside,  the  whole  current  of  his  life  changed,  and 
the  autumn  of  1832  found  him  in  Michigan  with  a  slender 
purse  but  a  stout  heart,  hunting  land  for  a  farm.  Going 
to  the  government  land  office  in  White  Pigeon,  in  Southern 
Michigan,  he  found  what  lots  were  for  sale,  and  struck 
off  on  horseback  southwest,  through  oak  openings  and 
prairies,  with  map  and  compass  in  pocket  and  food 
and  clothing  in  his  saddle-bags.  After  a  few  days' 
search,  he  was  riding  along  a  slope  of  land  falling  south- 
west into  a  valley,  and  his  horse  sank  deep  in  the  soft 
ground  among  the  trees  where  a  spring  moistened  the 
earth.  He  got  out  of  the  bog  with  some  trouble,  found  it 
was  near  noon,  tethered  his  horse  to  browse  among  the 
twigs  and  grass,  and  seated  himself  on  a  fallen  tree  to 
take  a  lunch  from  his  saddle-bags.  Rested  and  refreshed 
his  eye  ranged  over  the  pleasant  valley.  He  explored 
hill  and  dale,  found  forest  and  spring,  and  open  meadow 
and  clear  stream,  good  soil  and  a  cheery  outlook  that 
gave  a  sense  of  heart-warmth.     Finding  the  land  unsold 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVEN  TV  YEANS.  16 1 

he  started  back  to  White  Pigeon,  entered  a  half  section 
in  LaGrange  County,  Northern  Indiana,  on  Brushy 
Prairie,  nine  miles  east  of  the  county  seat,  and  built  his 
log  cabin  on  the  slope,  just  below  where  he  took  that 
memorable  lunch — the  spring  then  found  giving  water  to 
house  and  barns  to  this  day.  In  a  few  years  a  comforta- 
ble farmhouse  stood  in  place  of  the  cabin,  his  patient 
and  sturdy  labor  had  helped  to  transfigure  wild  forest  and 
field  into  blooming  orchards  and  waving  harvest  fields, 
and  other  pioneers  had  made  homes  along  the  pleasant 
hillside. 

The  year  of  his  arrival  he  married  Jane  IMary  Clark,  a 
school-teacher  from  Sheffield,  Mass.  :  sons  and  daughters 
grew  up  to  do  them  dutiful  honor,  and  their  wedded  life  of 
over  forty  years  was  full  of  cares  yet  full  of  cheer.  He 
was  grave,  earnest,  and  practical  ;  she  was  sparkling, 
merry,  and  full  of  quaint  fancies.  He  was  of  strong  and 
solid  frame,  capable  of  great  physical  labors  ;  she  was 
lithe,  healthy,  and  active.  That  fortunate  variety  made 
unity  and  harmony.  Under  her  sportive  gayety,  as  under 
his  grave  sedateness  was  a  vein  of  clear  common-sense, 
and  each  bore  a  lover's  share  of  the  other's  burdens. 

Wolves  were  plenty.  Mrs.  Prentiss  once  told  me  of 
her  first  night  alone  in  the  cabin.  Her  husband  was 
away  to  buy  cattle,  and  not  a  white  person  within  five 
miles.  The  dozen  sheep — precious  to  them  when  the 
fleeces,  sheared,  carded,  spun,  and  woven  by  their  own 
hands,  were  their  main  dependence  for  clothing — she 
drove  from  their  pen  into  the  cabin  at  night.  Hungry 
wolves  howled  outside,  pawed  under  the  door,  and  pushed 
their  noses  through  its  wide  crack  above  the  threshold. 
"Were  you  not  afraid  ?  "  I  asked.  "  No,  the  door  was 
strong  and  I  had  a  good  axe.  It  didn't  worry  me."  Indians 
were  plenty,  too,  and  sometimes  a  score  of  them  slept  on 
the   cabin  floor.     They   were   a   little    troublesome,   but 

11 


l62  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

always  friendly,  and  kept  the  same  good  faith  that  was 
kept  with  them. 

Few  men  did  so  much  hard  work  as  Mr.  Prentiss,  and 
a  fair  competence  honestly  won  was  his  reward.  Widows 
and  orphans  trusted  their  all  to  him  ;  the  weak  clung-  to 
him  as  a  strong  support.  He  was  urged  to  take  public 
office,  but  declined,  loving  home  life  and  the  society  of 
neighbor  pioneers  whose  toils  he  had  shared  and  for  whom 
he  had  a  strong  affection.  Once  only  was  he  almost  forced 
to  be  County  Judge,  and  the  title  stuck  to  him — for  titles 
in  our  Republican  land  stick  like  burs. 

For  thirty  years  he  kepi  up  a  correspondence  with  his 
college  classmate  and  room-mate,  Rev.  Dr.  Putnam,  Uni- 
tarian clergyman  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  but  they  never  met 
after  he  left  college.  Hon.  John  B.  Howe  and  his  accom- 
plished wife,  and  his  brother  James  came  early  from  Boston 
and  settled  in  the  neighboring  town  of  Lima.  A  cordial 
friendship  grew  up  between  the  families,  their  intimacy 
giving  a  glimpse  of  the  cultivated  society  of  days  in  the 
East  long  gone  by.  James  Howe  nursed  Mr.  Prentiss  like 
a  beloved  brother  in  his  last  illness,  their  attachment  being 
singularly  tender. 

In  1858  I  made  my  first  visit  at  that  farmhouse,  which 
became  a  familiar  and  homelike  place.  I  can  see  my  friend 
Prentiss  in  his  stout  old  arm-chair,  by  his  desk,  in  the  cor- 
ner of  the  plain  and  ample  sitting-room,  near  the  open  fire, 
which  they  always  kept  up.  There  he  sat  and  read  and 
talked,  his  sagacious  comments  on  men  and  things  al- 
ways worth  hearing.  His  life  on  that  farm  for  forty  years 
was  a  gospel  of  honor,  faithfulness,  kindness,  and  industry 
— such  a  gospel  as  our  true-hearted  pioneers  have  mnde 
indeed  a  divine  service,  helping  us  all  the  better  to  live. 

WILLIAM  DENTON. 

In  i860,  I  heard  his  course  of  lectures  on  geology.  He 
stood   on    the   platform,    a    lithe    figure    full    of   life    and 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YE  APS.  163 

endurance,  his  rich  voice  rang  out,  clear  and  strong-, 
his  eyes  lighted  up,  his  features  glowing  and  expressive. 
On  the  wall  behind  hung  colored  pictures  of  antediluvian 
scenery — huge  beasts  and  birds,  gigantic  ferns, mud,  slime, 
steaming  water  and  veined  lightning  flashing  in  the  murky 
air.  He  was  master  of  his  subject,  the  peer  of  the 
best  on  his  great  topic.  Others  equalled  him  in  knowl- 
edge, but  he  had  the  poetic  element,  giving  a  charm 
to  his  impassioned  eloquence.  To  me  he  was  the  first 
lecturer  on  geology  in  America.  Yet  for  years  he  had 
little  recognition.  In  the  days  of  contest  between  geol- 
ogy and  dogmatic  theology,  men,  far  his  inferiors,  spoke 
to  pious  and  popular  audiences,  and  won  cheap  fame  and 
poor  gold  by  professing  to  reconcile  Moses  and  the  gospel 
of  the  rocks, — a  poor  effort  which  hurt  Moses,  but  made  not 
a  single  scratch  on  the  rocks.  Now  they  are  being  recon- 
ciled in  a  better  way,  more  to  the  satisfaction  of  both 
schools.  Meanwhile  Denton  held  on  his  own  brave  way 
and  would  never  let  thrift  follow  fawning.  But  he  won 
at  last,  went  to  Canada  and  had  eulogistic  reports  of  his 
lectures  in  the  Montreal  Gazette,  went  to  New  England, 
settled  his  family  at  Wellesley,  near  Boston,  and  was  con- 
stantly occupied  as  a  lecturer  and  writer  for  years.  Born 
in  England,  nurtured  in  poverty,  coming  here  poor  in 
purse,  but  rich  in  courage,  and  rich,  too,  in  the  faith  and 
loving  heroism  of  an  intelligent  wife. 

An  infidel  of  the  old  materialistic  school,  he  came  into 
Spiritualism  ready  in  the  use  of  the  sledge-hammer,  quick 
to  strike  hard  at  a  defender  of  orthodoxy,  sure  to  smite 
him  down  if  he  was  a  bigot.  Time  modified  this, 
and  made  him  larger  in  thought,  more  constructive  in 
method,  less  fond  of  fighting  small  fry,  but  stronger 
than  ever  to  meet  an  opponent  when  truth  called  for  the 
contest. 

Forty  years  ago  he  gave  lectures  at  a  town  in  northern 
Ohio,  and  the  church-folk  went  to  Hiram  College,  where 
James  A.  Garfield  was  a  teacher,  and  brought  him  on  to 


1 64  CPIVARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

defend  the  faith  against  the  young  evolutionist.  I  have 
the  story  from  an  Illinois  man,  then  an  Ohio  boy,  at 
whose  father's  house  Denton  stayed.  Garfield  came,  tlie 
debate  began  with  a  crowded  house,  the  first  night 
Denton  came  home,  he  said:  "I  like  that  man.  He 
is  fair,  honest  and  able.  He  holds  out  well,  and  is  worth 
discussing  with,  which  many  are  not"  Several  nights 
the  discussion  went  on,  not  for  victory  but  for  truth. 
No  vote  was  taken  at  its  close,  but  each  of  the  oppo- 
nents bore  testimony  to  the  fairness  and  sincerity  of  the 
other,  and  shook  hands  in  mutual  friendship  amidst 
the  cheers  of  the  audience.  Long  after,  when  Garfield 
was  in  Congress,  Denton  lectured  in  Washington  and 
the  manly  Congressman  was  a  constant  hearer  and 
met  him  cordially. 

"  Our  Planet,''  '"Hie  Soul  of  Tilings''  (a  work  made 
up  of  valuable  psychometric  researches)  "/esus  as  he  Was, " 
and  a  goodly  number  of  pamphlets  were  written  by  this 
constant  worker.  A  few  years  ago  he  went  to  Australia 
to  find  a  new  field  for  his  scientific  exploration,  found 
great  delight  in  its  strange  flora  and  fauna  and  rocks, 
gathered  a  large  collection  to  send  home,  went  a  hundred 
miles  into  the  wild  interior,  was  smitten  by  fever,  and 
died  in  a  poor  hut  in  the  forest,  with  none  present  but 
natives  who  could  not  speak  an  English  word, — his  son 
and  nephew  in  search  of  him  but  a  dozen  miles  away. 
He  must  be  busy  among  finer  strata  in  the  Summer 
Land. 

He  was  brave,  and  true  and  pure,  —  "Without  fear  and 
without  reproach. "  I  always  felt  as  though  in  healthy 
air  when  we  met. 

It  is  note  worthy  that  this  man,  accurate  and  scientific 
in  his  search  for  facts,  saw,  years  ago,  the  imperfectness 
of  Darwin  and  others,  who  only  looked  at  the  material 
side  of  the  universe  and  ignored  its  spiritual  side,  the 
interior  life  and  guiding  will. 

He  said:    "An    infinite  and  intelligent   spirit,    in   my 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SF.VF.NTY  YEARS.  165 

opinion,  presides  over  the  universe,  andnatural  laws  are 
its  instruments." 

EBER    B.    WARD. 

* '  Cheerily  on  the  ax  of  labor 

Let  the  sunbeams  dance, 
Better  than  the  flash  of  sabre, 

Or  the  gleam  of  lance  ! 
Strike  ! — with  every  blow  is  given, 

Freer  earth  and  sky, 
And  the  long-hid  earth  to  heaven 

Looks  with  wondering  eye  !  " — Whittier. 

In  1863  I  went  to  Detroit,  spoke  in  a  Union  Club  Meet- 
ing, met  Eber  B.  Ward,  who  was  its  president,  and  spent 
much  time  for  a  year  or  more  in  speaking  in  the  State  on 
the  great  issues  involved  in  the  civil  war  then  going  on, 
having  his  help  in  this  work.  At  that  time  there  were 
thousands  of  confederate  soldiers,  prisoners  of  war  in 
Chicago,  Johnson's  Island,  and  other  places.  One  day 
Mr.  Ward  asked  me  to  call  at  his  office,  and  said  :  "I've 
been  thinking  of  a  way  to  do  these  men  some  good. 
They  are  on  the  wrong  side,  but  there  are  a  good  many 
good  men  among  them.  In  their  prison  life  the)'-  have 
little  to  occupy  their  time,  and  will  be  willing  to  hear  a 
man  talk  to  them  in  a  friendly  way.  If  you  could  get  to 
them,  and  tell  them  of  the  benefits  of  free  labor,  of  educa- 
tion, of  employment  at  fair  pay.  and  that,  while  we  don't 
claim  to  be  perfect,  our  ways  are  the  best,  it  would  be  a 
good  move.  You  can  make  them  feel  that  we  have  no 
ill-will  toward  them  ;  yet  we  are  determined  that  the 
rebellion  shall  be  put  down,  and  slavery,  its  cause  ended, 
so  that  we  can  all  be  on  good  terms  and  have  lasting 
peace,  and  real  union.  Will  you  try  it  if  I  can  open  tlie 
way  .?  "  I  said  I  would.  "Well,"  said  he,  "  I'll  write  the 
Secretary  of  War  and  we  shall  soon  find  out."  As  he  was 
well  known  personally  by  Secretary  Stanton  and  Abraham 
Lincoln,  I  had  little  doubt  of  the  result,  but  some  "red 


1 66  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVExYTY  YEARS. 

tape"  stood  in  the  way,  the  plan  was  given  up, and  I  lost 
what  would  have  been  an  interesting  experience,  and  might 
have  been  a  substantial  good  to  the  State. 

Our  acquaintance  grew  gradually.  I  liked  him  from 
the  first,  but  he  was  greatly  occupied.  He  asked  me  to  his 
house,  and  I  went  for  a  night.  He  said  to  me  in  the 
moning:  "When  you  are  in  the  city,  come  here  without 
invitation.  We  have  room  enough,  and  if  it  happens  not 
to  be  best  for  you  to  stay  I  will  say  so."  After  that  I 
would  step  into  the  office  and  say  :  Shall  I  go  to  your 
house  ?  and  the  answer  was  usually  yes — sometimes  no — 
with  a  reason  given  if  he  had  time,  if  not  none  was  given 
or  needed.  This  frankness  I  enjoyed,  and  often  wish 
there  was  more  of  it     So  we  became  lifelong  friends. 

During  the  ten  years,  from  1864  to  1874,  he  was  caring 
for  large  iron  interests,  lumbering,  steamboats,  and  rail- 
road affairs,  keeping  six  thousand  men  busy,  and  helping 
to  competence  a  goodly  number  of  worthy  and  diligent 
persons.  Plain  in  manners,  kindly  and  unpretending, 
giving  ready  hearing,  yet  deciding  with  a  certain  weight 
that  closed  the  case,  he  was  able  to  accomplish  a  great  deaL 
Nothing  seemed  to  worry  him  ;  ordinary  perplexities,  over 
which  a  weak  man  would  fret  and  waste  his  poor  powers, 
he  was  too  strong  to  be  vexed  by.  To  those  in  his  employ, 
and  near  his  person,  he  was  cordial  and  friendly.  As  one 
of  them  said  to  me  :  "If  you  do  your  duty  he's  the  best 
man  in  the  world.  If  there's  some  mistake  he'll  always 
hear  you  explain  it,  but  if  you  are  lazy  or  crooked,  you 
'  walk  the  plank,'  and  no  more  said  about  you." 

A  good  friend  to  honest  men,  he  would  help  them  in 
trouble  and  wait  for  his  dues  ;  but  let  a  man  try  to  cheat 
and  he  followed  him  like  an  Indian. 

Late  one  autumn  a  steam  barge  on  Lake  Superior 
had  two  boats  in  tow,  laden  with  iron  ore.  Off  the 
Pictured  Rocks  a  snow  storm  struck  them,  and  all  sunk, 
and  eight  lives  were  lost.      He  found  the  men  were  single. 


[/PPVA KD  S  TEPS  OF  SE  VENl 'Y  YEARS.  j  6  7 

save  the  Captain,  and  that  his  family  was  in  the  city. 
His  trusted  sister  Emily  was  asked  to  see  them,  and  she 
reported  the  wife  and  children  in  such  condition  that  they 
could  get  along-  if  the  mortgage  of  five  hundred  dollars 
was  lifted  from  the  house.  He  drew  a  check  for  six  hun- 
dred dollars,  his  sister  took  it,  paid  the  mortgage,  and  gave 
the  rest  to  the  wife  to  start  on.  But  few  knew  of  this 
good  act  or  of  many  others. 

One  day  a  lame  soldier  came  to  the  office  for  help,  and 
showed  me  his  testimonials.  His  face  was  his  best  proof 
of  manliness.  Mr.  Ward  was  very  busy  writing,  but  said  : 
"  I'll  see  him."  As  we  entered  the  room  its  occupant 
looked  up  from  his  work,  pushed  a  chair  near  the  desk 
and  said  :  "  Sit  down."  The  soldier  seated  himself  and 
handed  out  his  book  of  pledges,  which  was  looked  over 
for  a  moment,  then  came  a  kindly  but  searching  glance 
at  the  man,  a  dive  of  the  left  hand  fingers  into  his  vest 
pocket,  and  a  five  dollar  bill  was  laid  on  the  book  and 
handed  to  its  owner,  without  a  word.  To  his  cordial 
thanks  the  response  was  a  nod  and  a  smile  that  seemed 
to  say  :  "All  right,  but  I'm  very  busy."  As  we  came  out 
the  good-hearted  soldier  said  to  me  :  "I  am  glad  of  this 
help,  for  I  need  it,  but  I  like  that  man  better  than  the 
money  ;  his  looks  meant  more  than  a  good  many  people's 
talk." 

In  the  garden  back  of  his  ample  and  solid  house  were 
large  glass  houses — a  thousand  feet  in  total  length — where 
were  raised  tons  of  choice  grapes,  freely  given  away  in 
their  season,  and  kept  fresh  all  winter  in  a  fruit  house. 
Every  morning  for  some  weeks  he  would  bring  a  basket 
of  fine  black  Hamburg  and  white  grapes  to  the  office,  go 
from  one  desk  to  another  and  lay  out  a  luscious  bunch  or 
two,  and  set  the  basket  in  a  corner  by  his  chair  to  eat 
and  hand  out  to  others  through  the  day. 

He  once  said  to  me  :  "I understand  how  workmen  feel 
on  this  wages  question.      I  am  glad  that  I  was  once  poor, 


1 68  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

for  it  helps  me  to  know  what  poor  people  think.  But  I 
can't  see  what  I  can  do  better  for  these  men  than  to  hire 
them,  and  deal  with  them  as  we  fairly  agree.  I  must 
make  money,  or  they  would  not  have  work.  If  I  should 
hand  over  all  the  iron  mills  to  them  to-morrow,  they 
would  run  them  to  ruin  in  a  year  or  two.  Co-operation 
is  the  only  wise  thing ;  if  wages  don't  answer.  Strikes 
are  folly  :  labor  unions,  when  used  to  protect  their  mem- 
bers from  injustice,  are  right  ;  but  when  they  dictate  on 
what  wages  outsiders  shall  work  they  are  wrong  and 
tyrannical.  No  vote  of  labor  unions  can  decide  wages, 
for  the  laws  of  trade  are  stronger  than  all  such  votes." 

The  three  hundred  Wyandotte  mill-men  once  struck, 
and  sent  a  committee  to  him,  asking  higher  pay.  He  said 
to  them  :  "  You  remember  that  not  long  ago  your  wages 
were  raised.  I  claim  no  credit  for  it,  but  the  market  was 
upward,  and  I  thought  it  fair  and  safe  to  do  it.  Now  you 
want  higher  wages  when  prices  are  falling.  That  is  im- 
possible. Here  is  the  price-current,  and  you  will  see  by 
it  that  I  am  right.  Go  home  and  tell  the  men  that  I 
always  try  to  do  the  best  I  can,  in  justice  to  myself  and 
the  other  owners,  and  to  them,  but  this  I  cannot  and  shall 
not  do."  All  this  was  said  kindly,  but  with  a  decision 
solid  as  a  rock.  They  went  home,  made  due  report,  and 
the  next  day  all  went  cheerily  back  to  their  work. 

His  solid  person,  deep  chest,  plain  face,  and  large  head 
showed  power  of  physical  endurance  and  strong  character. 
Such  men  have  a  reserve  of  vital  force  and  in  case  of  need 
can  put  a  month's  work  into  a  week  and  hardly  feel  it. 

Broad  shoulders  carry  large  loads,  and  large  brains  put 
those  loads  where  they  will  do  the  most  good.  Some  men 
get  rich  by  selfish  greed,  trampling  others  down  as  they 
go  up,  or  by  some  stroke  of  stock  gambling;  Mr.  Ward's 
business  success  came  by  dauntless  courage,  executive 
force,  and  immense  will-power  guided  by  sagacity  and 
foresight.      His  best   enjoyment  was  to  develop   natural 


UPWARD  STEPS  OP  SEVENTY  YEARS.  i6q 

resources  ;  to  add  to  the  common  wealth  as  well  as  to  his 
own  by  utilizing  forests  and  mines  and  farms  to  employ 
labor  and  skill,  and  open  the  way  to  comfort  and  compe- 
tence, and  a  better  life  for  others.  He  enjoyed  success, 
butthat  enjoyment  was  illumined  and  humanized  by  a  fine 
enthusiasm  for  the  common  weal,  which  banished  narrow 
selfishness.  If  he  won  wealth,  others  must  be  lifted  up 
meanwhile,  and  the  whole  land  made  fairer  to  dwell  in. 

He  foresaw  that  iron  rails  must  give  place  to  steel,  and 
the  first  Bessemer  steel  rails  rolled  in  this  country  were 
finished  at  the  North  Chicago  Rolling  Mill — in  which  he 
had  a  leading  interest — May  24th,  1865,  from  ingots  made 
at  his  Wyandotte  mill,  near  Detroit.  He  foresaw  that  iron 
ships  must  navigate  the  lakes,  and  encouraged  the  Wyan- 
dotte ship  yard,  from  which  the  genius  of  Kirby  has 
launched  steel  steamboats  staunch  and  beautiful. 

His  ability  to  put  aside  cares  and  turn  to  social  enjoy- 
ment and  mental  culture  was  proof  of  health  and  strength, 
and  helped  greatly  to  preserve  them,  for  change  of  action  is 
rest.  At  his  tea-table  he  was  full  of  social  warmth,  in  the 
evening  ready  to  look  at  some  new  book  or  talk  of  some 
new  topic,  in  so  fresh  and  easy  a  way  that  one  would  not 
dream  he  had  any  large  affairs  to  carry  along  each  day. 
With  early  schooling  in  books  limited  to  a  few  months  of 
the  crudest  kind,  few  knew  that  he  was  one  of  the  best 
informed  men,  and  one  of  the  best  judges  of  books  in  the 
State — books  with  thought  and  purpose  that  is  ;  merely 
fine  writing  or  dilettanteism  he  cared  little  for.  He  would 
carry  home  a  fresh  work,  look  at  its  title  and  contents, 
turn  over  its  pages  and  stop  to  read  the  main  points  and 
put  it  aside  in  an  hour.  I  would  manage  to  ask  about  it  and 
find  that  the  scope  and  gist  of  the  writer  were  grasped  and 
clearly  held.  That  was  all  he  wanted — details  he  would 
master,  or  not,  as  seemed  best.  It  was  a  constant  sur- 
prise to  note  how  he  kept  up  to  the  best  thought  on  a  wide 
range  of  topics,  and  how  alive  he  was  to  the  great  move- 


lyo  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

ments  of  the  age,  all  the  while  keeping  in  steady  motion 
a  hundred  engines  in  many  mills  and  studying  metallurgy 
and  engineering  to  that  end. 

No  liquors  or  wines  were  ever  kept  or  used  as  beverages 
in  that  house,  no  tobacco  in  any  form.  Hearty  eating  of 
healthy  and  simple  food,  regular  habits,  "early  to  bed 
and  early  to  rise  "  made  up  his  household  ways.  He  exer- 
cised a  large  and  kindly  providence  for  family  and  friends, 
and  his  patient  bearing  of  trial  and  hopeful  cheerfulness 
were  notable.  It  may  be  asked  :  Were  there  no  faults .? 
Certainly  there  were  faults,  marked  as  the  man  himself, 
but  the  nobler  virtues  and  high  qualities  towered  above 
and  cast  them  in  the  shade,  so  that  when  he  passed  away 
a  leading  daily  newspaper  but  uttered  the  feeling  of  the 
people  in  saying:  "No  death  since  that  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  has  caused  such  deep  feeling  and  sincere  regret." 

He  was  seldom  induced  to  speak  in  public  and  had  no 
eloquence  of  voice  or  manner,  yet  had  marked  power  and 
weight  of  speech  in  an  emergency,  and  wrote  with  terse 
vigor  in  strong  Saxon. 

Protection  to  home  industry  as  opposed  to  the  British 
free-trade  policy,  he  advocated  and  helped,  with  steady 
persistence  and  in  a  large  way  that  made  him  felt  and 
known  all  over  the  land  ;  his  advocacy  based  on  a  deep 
conviction  that  a  fairly  protective  tariff  policy  was  best 
for  the  people. 

For  years  he  was  president  of  the  American  Iron  and 
Steel  Association  and  visited  its  Philadelphia  head-quarters 
when  necessary.  Often  urged  to  be  a  candidate  for 
political  office  he  always  refused — save  in  the  Presidential 
campaign  of  1868,  when  he  was  a  State  elector  on  the 
Republican  ticket. 

In  early  life  he  was  a  skeptic  in  religious  matters, 
having  small  faith  in  dogmas  and  tending  toward  mate- 
rialism ;  at  a  later  time  he  became  a  Spiritualist,  facts  he 
witnessed   quickening   his    thoughts    and    changing    his 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YE  APS.  171 

views.  He  once  said  to  me:  "I  am  only  a  common- 
sense  man,  and  this  is  a  common-sense  religion  ;  1  like 
it."'  He  was  a  contributor  to  the  fund  for  the  Index 
newspaper,  and  for  a  time  vice-president  of  the  Free 
Religious  Association  and  also  a  supporter  of  Unitarianism. 
He  gave  away  hundreds  of  books  on  religious  and  reform 
topics. 

One  evening,  at  the  house,  I  told  him  of  a  plan  long  in 
my  mind  of  compiling  a  work  to  be  made  up  of  chapters 
from  the  Sacred  Books  and  best  ideas  of  diffeient  religions 
and  peoples,  to  show  the  spiritual  fraternity  of  man,  the 
essential  unity  of  religious  ideas,  Pagan  or  Christian,  the 
inspirations  of  many  seers  and  prophets,  ancient  and 
modern.  After  a  few  inquiries  he  said  :  "I  like  that. 
Suppose  you  go  to  the  Post  and  Tribune,  and  see  what  it  will 
cost  to  get  it  out."  I  found  that  the  cost  would  be  over  two 
thousand  dollars,  and  that  some  valuable  books  would  also 
be  needed.  He  told  me  to  get  duplicate  copies  of  all  books 
wanted  and  he  would  pay  for  all  and  keep  a  copy  of  each, 
and  see  the  work  published.  The  offer  was  unexpected 
as  well  as  generous.  I  set  about  my  welcome,  but 
arduous,  task,  and  within  two  years  (in  1872)  an  edition 
of  two  thousand  copies  was  out,  he  advancing  the  money 
for  a  part  of  it,  which  he  took  and  gave  away,  and  giving 
me  time  to  pay  for  the  rest  from  the  sales.  Several  later 
editions  have  gone  out,  and  the  "Chapters  from  the 
Bible  of  the  Ages  "  has  been  a  help  to  many.  Its  contents 
not  being  mine  I  can  commend  their  value. 

To  be  satisfied  that  anything  was  right  and  just  was  to 
support  it  frankly,  and  so  wo  man -suffrage  won  his  active 
support.  In  i860,  Wendell  Phillips  was  to  speak  in  Detroit 
on  anti-slavery.  The  streets  were  full  of  threats,  and  the 
trustees  of  Young  Men's  Hall  dared  not  open  their  doors 
lest  the  threatened  property  should  be  destroyed.  Mr. 
Ward  went  to  them,  saying  :  "  Open  the  Hall,  I  insure  it, 
go  on  without  fear."     They  did  so,  and  a  large  audience 


172  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

heard  the  lecture  quietly,  the  brave  and  strong  will  of  one 
man  keeping-  the  peace.  When  the  civil  war  came  his 
advice  and  help  were  prized  in  Washington  and  at  home. 
At  its  close  he  went  South,  and  met  leading  men  there  in 
friendly  spirit,  to  urge  on  them  the  importance  of  varying 
their  industry  and  building  up  manufactories. 

In  1 87 1  he  bought  a  spacious  corner  lot,  near  the  City 
Hall,  at  a  cost  of  twenty  thousand  dollars,  and  planned 
to  erect  a  large  building  on  it,  with  a  free  hall,  where 
lectures  on  industrial  science  and  like  topics  could  be 
given,  and  which  should  be  open  for  reforms,  for  liberal 
religion  as  well  as  orthodox,  and  for  Spiritualism. 
Reading  and  lecture  rooms  and  a  temperance  restaurant 
were  also  to  be  in  the  building. 

His  intent  was  to  spend  some  $200,000  in  this  enterprise; 
the  plans  for  building  were  begun,  but  the  panic  of  1873 
came,  and  he  said  all  must  be  put  aside,  for  his  first  aim 
was  to  keep  his  thousands  of  men  employed,  if  possible, 
that  they  might  be  saved  from  distress. 

I  sketch  his  character  and  aims  in  his  business  career, 
because  he  was  a  noble  type  of  a  class  more  numerous 
than  many  suppose — men  of  executive  and  organizing 
power,  who  would  work  for  the  common  good,  as  well 
as  for  their  own.  Possibly  some  of  these  in  the  light  of 
his  labors,  can  do  better  than  he  did. 

In  days  gone  by  he  would  have  been  General  in  some 
great  army,  a  dauntless  conqueror,  a  hero  in  war.  In 
our  day  he  was  a  great  captain  of  the  industrial  hosts,  a 
hero  of  the  chivalry  of  labor. 

In  January,  1875,  came  the  swift  stroke  of  apoplexy — an 
instant  change  from  vigorous  life  to  bodily  death  on  the 
sidewalk. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


173 


EMILY  WARD — A  HELPFUL  PIONEERS  EIGHTIETH    BIRTHDAY. 

On  Saturday  afternoon,  March  i6th,  1889,  it  was  my 
g^ood  fortune  to  be  present  on  a  noteworthy  occasion  in 
Detroit,  the  eightieth  birthday  of  Emily  Ward,  commem- 
orated by  a  goodly  company.  Not  a  fashionable  party 
for  gifts  and  display,  but  a  gathering  of  the  early  friends 
of  a  venerable  woman,  and  of  those  younger  who  hold 
her  in  loving  reverence. 

"Aunt  Emily,"  to  many  from  Michigan  far  over  the 
wide  land  ;  "Grandmother"  to  twenty  children  and  to 
their  children,  at  her  home  and  far  distant,  all  children  of 
her  adoption,  some  of  them  of  no  kinship  in  blood. 
She  never  married,  but  her  mother's  death  left  her,  at 
ten  years  old,  her  good  father's  friend  and  comforter,  the 
child-mother  of  a  brother  and  two  younger  sisters  with 
a  mother-heart  that  in  after  years,  took  home  their 
children,  and  others  left  orphans,  and  a  loving  wisdom 
that  trained  them  for  useful  lives  and  larger  responsi- 
bilities. 

In  a  large  chair  at  one  end  of  the  roomy  parlor  of  her 
house,  an  ample  matronly  woman,  with  a  plain,  strong 
face  made  beautiful  by  its  kindly  radiance,  her  brown 
hair  not  yet  whitened,  with  flowers  and  plants  in 
windows  and  along  the  wall  behind  her,  and  some  of  her 
children  near  at  hand,  she  sat  four  hours  to  shake  hands 
and  hold  cheering  talk  with  some  two  hundred  persons. 
On  the  piano  stood  a  vase  holding  80  roses,  from  Chicago, 
on  her  table  were  many  heartfelt  letters  from  those,  far 
and  near,  unable  to  be  present.  It  was  good  to  be  there, 
for  it  was  a  heart-festival. 

The  letters  from  her  proteges  were  full  of  grateful 
affection.  One  wrote  :  "  My  life  has  widened  since  those 
happy  days  of  your  early  care,  but  you  are  among  the 
widening  influences  that  have  made  me  more  of  a  man 
than  I  could  otherwise  have  been." 

Another:   "I    have   known  the   uplifting    influence    of 


174  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

your   strength    and   courage  and  nobility  of  character." 

Coming  to  Michigan  more  than  sixty  years  ago,  settling 
on  the  St.  Clair  river,  helping  school  and  church  in  the 
forest  hamlet,  nursing  the  sick,  keeping  the  lighthouse  on 
Bois  Blanc  island  near  Mackinaw,  dutiful,  helpful  and 
fearless  amidst  the  toils  and  perils  of  pioneer  life,  inspir- 
ing all,  especially  young  men,  to  true  and  useful  effort, 
few  lives  have  been  so  helpful. 

Her  brother  used  to  tell  how  the  little  family  watched 
with  admiring  interest  her  first  effort  at  bread-making 
when  she  was  about  twelve  years  old,  from  which  time 
she  managed  that  high  art  in  the  household. 

From  bread-making  to  fitting  up  the  furniture  of  a 
score  of  great  steamboats,  and  to  the  building  of  saw 
mills  and  iron  mills,  her  help  was  ready,  her  advice 
always  sought  by  that  brother.  A  dauntless  will,  a  wise 
head,  a  heart  true  and  tender,  and  the  magnetic  power  of 
a  strong  personality  gave  her  large  influence. 

At  the  party  she  spoke  humorously   of  offers  of  mar- 


riage : 


"There  wasn't  an  old  widower  for  miles  around,"  she 
said,  "  whose  first  or  second  or  third  wife  had  left  him 
with  a  family  of  ten  or  twelve  children,  and  who  wanted 
a  woman  to  be  a  slave  to  him  and  a  servant  to  his  pro- 
geny, but  what  came  over  and  wanted  to  marry  me.  I 
uniformly  declined  the  honor,  however.  I  didn't  have 
time  to  get  married." 

Heart  and  hands  were  full,  with  the  care  of  the  many 
children  whose  destinies  were  so  intimately  linked  with 
hers. 

One  of  her  children,  a  niece,  with  a  tall  daughter  stand- 
ing by   her,  said  : 

"Aunt  Emily's  way  of  bringing  up  children  was  a 
homely  old  New  England  way.  She  believed  in  making 
children  work,  and  she  didn't  believe  in  what  she  called 
'gadding  about,'  nor  in   a  good  many  other  things.     If 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  175 

one  of  US  g-irls  would  say,  'Can  Ada  and  I,  or  Laura 
and  I,  or  somebody  else  and  I,  go  out  for  a  little  walk  ?  ' 
her  answer  wouldn't  always  be  'yes.'  Very  often  it 
would  be  :  'Oh,  want  exercise,  do  you?'  Well,  you  go 
out  and  weed  that  onion  bed'  :  or,  '  You  go  out  and  pick 
strawberries  for  supper';  or,  'You  go  upstairs  and 
sweep.'  And  if  one  of  the  boys  wanted  to  go  over  to 
somebody's  house  and  play,  it  was  :  •  You  go  out  and 
tackle  that  woodpile ' ;  or,  '  You  can  hoe  those  potatoes 
this  afternoon.' 

'Gadding  about,'  dancing  lessons,  balls  and  parties, 
and  other  things  which  are  contrived  for  the  amusement 
of  the  little  ones  now-a-days,  had  no  place  in  Aunt 
Emily's  scheme  of  bringing  up  children.  '  You  have  the 
most  beautiful  river  in  the  world  at  your  door,'  she  would 
say  to  us.  '  What  more  do  you  want.-* '  What  more  did 
we  want,  surely.  That  was  the  most  beautiful  river  in 
the  world.  Aunt  Emily  M^as  a  Puritan  in  some  of  her 
ideas,  but  motherless  children  were  never  happier  than 
we  were  playing  along  the  river  shores,  or  rowing  on  its 
surface,  and  living  all  together  in  one  house.  Few  chil- 
dren whose  mothers  are  spared  to  them  can  be  happier." 

A  band  of  Saginaw  Indians,  in  their  war  paint,  suddenly 
came  into  the  house  one  day  when  every  man,  save  one 
cripple,  in  the  settlement  was  gone  to  a  town  miles  away. 
They  demanded  whiskey,  then  kept  in  every  cabin,  even 
by  men  like  her  father  who  never  drank  it.  She  put  her 
hand  through  the  latch  of  the  door  where  it  was  kept, 
armed  herself  with  a  broomstick,  and  struck  stoutly  all 
who  came  near.  The  chief  said,  in  their  tongue  which 
she  understood,  "Leave  her  to  me.  Ell  put  her  to  sleep." 
This  she  knew  meant  her  death,  but  she  looked  him 
steadily  in  the  eye,  stood  firm  and  called  to  her  sister 
outside :  "  Go  and  call  the  men,"  which  stratagem  led  the 
Indians,  after  brief  consultation,  to  leave  in  haste.  She 
knew  if  they  found  the  whiskey  that  all  would  be  mur- 


176  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

dered.  That  same  self-possession  led  her,  in  later  years, 
to  bleed  her  brother  when  he  was  smitten  with  apoplexy, 
and  thus  save  his  life  for  years. 

Here  is  a  pleasanter  story,  as  told  to  the  children  years 
ago.  In  another  chapter  is  Reading  German  Philosophy, 
an  experience  of  a  different  kind. 

"One  day  in  June,"  said  grandma,  "  as  soon  as  dinner 
was  over,  Sallie  and  a  young  woman  named  Margaret, 
who  worked  for  Uncle  Sam,  and  Uncle  Sam's  little  boy 
and  myself  went  across  the  river  to  the  Canada  side  to 
gather  wild  strawberries  that  grew  there  in  great  abun- 
dance. We  crossed  in  a  rov-boat,  and  when  we  got  on 
shore  we  pulled  the  boat  up  high  enough  on  the  beach  to 
prevent  the  waves  from  carrying  it  off. 

"  We  had  a  gay  time  filling  our  pails  and  baskets  with 
the  ripe  fruit,  and  when  we  got  through  we  were  rather 
tired,  and  very  leisurely  took  our  way  to  the  boat.  We 
did  not  notice  that  the  small  boy  had  gone  ahead  of  us. 
When  we  were  nearly  to  the  beach  he  came  running 
toward  us,  shouting  ;   '  Boaty  !   Boaty  ! ' 

"  I  knew  in  an  instant  that  he  had  done  some  mischief, 
and  I  set  my  strawberries  down  and  ran  as  hard  as  I  could 
to  the  river.  Sure  enough,  he  had  pushed  the  boat  into 
the  water,  and  it  was  floating  off  with  the  current.  I 
waded  into  the  water  clear  up  to  my  neck,  and  as  I  could 
not  swim  I  had  to  wade  back. 

"By  this  time  the  girls  and  the  small  boy  were  on  the 
shove,  and  as  I  went  back  they  set  up  a  dismal  wail,  for 
the  boat  was  gone,  and  there  we  four  were  miles  away 
from  any  habitation,  and  with  a  fine  prospect  of  spending 
the  night  in  the  woods,  where  wolves  still  roamed  and  an 
occasional  Indian. 

"  We  sat  in  a  A^ery  melancholy  plight,  the  girls  crying, 
the  boy  looking  doleful,  and  I  thinking  what  to  do.  There 
was  an  island  about  a  mile  below,  near  the  Canadian 
shore,  and  I  thought  the  current  would  carry  tlic  boat  to 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  177 

that  island  and  strand  her  on  its  eastern  point.  How  to 
get  to  that  point  was  the  question.  There  were  no  in- 
habitants for  miles,  and  the  sun  was  about  going  down. 
The  only  thing  to  do  was  to  make  a  raft  strong  enough 
to  pole  down  to  the  island  and  find  the  boat.  How  to 
make  the  raft  was  another  question. 

"  I  looked  around  the  beach  and  found  there  was  drift- 
wood of  logs  and  long  poles,  such  as  pioneers  use  in 
building  mud  chimneys,  and  I  thought  we  could  make  a 
raft  with  these  if  we  only  had  something  to  tie  them  to- 
gether. But  there  wasn't  a  string  a  yard  long  in  the  whole 
party,  except  those  we  used  to  hold  up  our  stockings,  as 
was  the  fashion  in  those  days.  But  strings  or  no  strings, 
that  raft  had  got  to  be  made,  and  what  were  sunbonnets 
and  aprons  and  dresses  and  skirts  for,  if  in  an  emergency 
they  wouldn't  tie  a  raft  together  } 

"I  told  the  girls  my  plan,  and  they  said  they  didn't 
believe  I  ever  would  get  that  boat  back  in  any  such  way. 
Still  they  went  to  work  with  a  will  because  I  wanted  them 
to,  and  because  it  seemed  to  be  the  only  way  to  get  home. 
We  took  off  some  of  our  clothes  and  tied  the  logs  together 
with  the  different  garments.  After  a  good  deal  of  hard 
work  a  raft  was  completed  with  the  aforesaid  materials. 

"Luckily,  the  fashion  of  those  days  provided  every 
woman  with  a  long  under-garment  that  hung  down  to 
her  ankles  and  covered  us  more  as  to  our  necks  and  arms 
than  many  a  fashionable  belle  of  these  times  is  covered 
by  what  she  calls  full  dress.  You  may  be  sure  such  a 
raft  was  a  frail  affair  to  sail  the  waters  of  the  great  St. 
Clair  river,  and  Sallie  said  she  knew  we  would  be  drowned. 
It  was  only  large  enough  for  two,  and  INIargaret  and  I 
went,  leaving  Sallie  to  the  care  of  the  boy.  It  required  a 
brave  heart  to  go  or  stay,  for  in  the  distance  we  could  hear 
the  occasional  howl  of  a  wolf,  or  a  bear,  and  there  was 
peril  also  by  water. 

"The  plan  was  that  Margaret   and  I  shouM   stand  and 


1 78  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

steer  the  raft,  but  as  soon  as  we  got  away  from  the  shore 
she  was  afraid  to  stand  up,  so  she  sat  down  and  cried,  and 
I  did  the  work,  steering  with  aboard.  The  current  helped 
us  a  good  deal,  and  after  a  time  we  could  see  the  head 
of  the  island.  There  was  an  encampment  of  friendly 
Indians  fishing  and  hunting,  but  we  were  not  afraid  of 
them. 

"By  this  time  the  full  moon  was  up,  and  as  soon  as 
we  could  see  the  island  we  saw  all  the  Indians  on  the 
shore  gazing  eagerly  in  our  direction.     They  didn't  seem 
to  understand  what  it  was  that  was  going  toward  them. 
But  as  we  got  nearer  and  nearer  and  the  bright  moon- 
light shone  directly  on  us,  they  discovered  that  it  was  only 
two  girls  with  simply  one  long  garment  on,    and  they 
screamed  and  shouted  with   laughter.      I  didn't  care  for 
that,  for  by  this  time  I  could  see  our  boat,  stranded  about 
where  I  thought  it  would  be.     The  Indians  kindly  helped 
us,  and  we  soon  reached  the  boat,    untied  our  garments 
from  the  raft,  and  hastened  back  to  Sallie  and  the  boy. 
There  we  put  on  our  wet  clothes,    placed  the  berries  in 
the  boat,  and  started  for  home.     We  agreed  that  we  would 
slip  into  the  house  by  the  back  way,  change  our  clothes 
and  not  tell  of  our  adventure,   and  we  did  so.     No  one 
knew  of  it  for  some  time.      But  Margaret  had  a  beau  to 
whom  she  told  the  story  after  a  while,  and  as  it  was  such 
a  good  one,  and  as  he  was  a  man,   he  told  it  to  several, 
and  so  every  one  knew  it  in  a  little  time,    and  we  were 
well  laughed  at." 

The  incident  was  utilized  as  the  subject  of  a  picture  by 
John  M.  Stanley,  the  artist,  who  won  reputation  as  a 
painter  of  Indian  portraits.  The  picture  now  hangs  in  the 
parlor.  It  shows  the  moonlight  on  the  wide,  forest- 
fringed  river,  the  two  girls  on  the  frail  craft,  and  the 
figures  of  the  Indians  in  the  distance.  Mr.  Stanley  pre- 
sented it  to  her  on  her  sixtieth  birthday. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  179 

This    poem,    my   contribution    to   the   birthday   testi- 
monial, was  read  to  the  assembled  guests  : 

The  reason  firm,  the  conquering  will, 
The  generous  heart,  the  patient  skill 
The  good  child-mother  ten  years  old, 
Brother  and  sisters  in  her  fold. 

The  strong-souled  nurse,  whose  words  of  cheer 
Gave  hope  to  many  a  pioneer. 
When  pain  and  sickness  brought  sad  gloom 
To  the  log  cabin's  plain,  bare  room. 

Up  the  fair  Straits  of  Mackinaw, 

In  years  long  past  the  sailor  saw 

On  the  lone  shore,  through  the  dark  night, 

The  lighthouse  lamp  blaze  clear  and  bright. 

Each  day  a  maid,  lithesome  and  strong, 
With  free  step  climbed  the  ladders  long 
To  trim  that  lamp,  that  its  fair  light 
Might  guide  to  safety  in  the  night. 

Love  lent  her  wings  to  mount,  to  fly 
If  need  were,  up  that  tower  high, 
While  her  good  father,  on  the  ground. 
Less  fleet  of  foot  sure  safety  found. 

The  household  tasks  were  fair  and  free, 

Her  steps  had  "virgin  liberty;  " 

Books  few  and  choice,  thoughts  large  and  high. 

The  lake,  the  trees,  the  o'erarching  sky. 

The  daily  tasks,  were  teachers  meet ; 
The  inner  hght  burned  pure  and  sweet, 
Its  radiance  whiter  than  the  glow 
From  that  tall  tower  on  earth  below. 

The  Indian,  fainting  at  the  door, 
Gained  health  from  herbs  in  her  full  store; 
Each  spring  with  grateful  reverence  meet, 
His  maple  sugar,  at  the  feet 


x8o  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

Of  the  "  White  Squaw  "  he  gladly  laid. 
And  went  back  to  his  forest  shade — 
Whatever  be  the  outward  hue 
The  grateful  heart  is  ever  true. 

Sisters  were  wedded,  babes  were  born, 
The  mother's  hands  grew  pale  and  worn; 
Death  came— a  sacred  sweet  release, 
Sure  rest  from  toil,  and  God's  own  peace. 

One  mother-heart  had  room  for  all, 
The  orphan  kindred  could  not  fall 
Out  of  the  reach  of  fostering  care. 
Of  home,  of  comfort,  guidance,  prayer. 

The  kinship  of  great  souls  is  wide, 

Could  all  hearthunger  be  denied  ? 

No,  others  not  of  kindred  race 

By  the  broad  hearthstone  found  warm  place. 

Thus  twenty  children  all  had  share 
In  wise  restraint,  in  fostering  care. 
And  their  fair  babes,  in  safe  delight 
Beside  the  St.  Clair's  waters  bright, 
Filled  one  dear  home  with  love  and  light 

A  generous  brother,  with  true  heart, 
In  all  these  cares  bore  useful  part. 
And  ever  to  his  sister  brought 
His  plans  and  aims  for  her  wise  thought. 

And  now  to  this  warm  ample  home, 
Through  hospitable  doors  we  come. 
Kindred  and  friends,  on  this  good  day 
Our  best  and  truest  word  to  say — 

Eighty  years  oli  !   "Aunt  Emily," 
"  Grandma,"  with  reverent  hearts  we  see 
The  ripened  fruitage  of  those  years; 
Words  are  but  poor,  and  our  glad  tears 

Must  tell  how  deep  our  joy,  how  high 

Our  hope,  how  strong  our  sympathy. 

May  every  added  year  on  earth  be  blest 

And  the  great  years  of  heavenly  work  be  besto 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  i8i 

BENJAMIN    F,     WADE. 

*'  Than  tyrant's  law,  or  bigot's  ban, 

More  mighty  is  your  simplest  word; 
The  free  heart  of  an  honest  man, 
Than  crosier  or  the  sword." 

Benjamin  F.  Wade,  United  States  Senator  from  Ohio,  1 
knew    well.     E.    B.    Ward   and    Mr.    Wade    were    warm 
friends,  and  no  marvel ;  for  they  were  alike  in  contempt 
of  shams,  in   frankness  of  speech,  in  plain   manners  and 
large  powers,  and  they  held  strong-  convictions  in  com- 
mon.    I  was  often  with  Mr.  Wade.     Some  persons  you 
see  all  at  once  ;  after  the  first  interview  they  grow  less 
rather   than    larger ;  with   him    it  was    the    opposite,  the 
more    I    knew    him,  the   more   there   was    of  him.      His 
hearty  simphcity  was  always  refreshing,  his  ready  humor 
and   quaint   speech  never  failed,  and  the  clearness  and 
vigor  of  his  views  of  persons  and  things  gave  strength 
and  instruction.      He  was  one  of  the  best  judges  of  men 
I  ever  met,  and  would  give  the  measure  of  the  ability  and 
reliability   of  public    men    with   wonderful    correctness. 
Especially  clear-sighted  was  he  as  to  a  man's  integrity. 
Not  suspicious,  but  gifted  with  intuition,  no  double  dealer 
could  trap  him  with  smooth  words,  or  cheat  him  by  any 
jugglery  or  sharp  device.      He  saw  the  soul  beneath,  and 
so  the  smooth  speech  and  the  tricks  went  for  nothing.    He 
liked  an  open  opponent,  or  a  true  friend,  but  a  trimmer 
he  despised,  a  trickster  he  held   in  contempt  and  would 
scourge  stoutly.     There  was  a  flavor  of  healthy  and  whole- 
some naturalness  in   his  ways.     Once  I  told  him  of  my 
long  stage  ride  by  the  lake  shore,  from   Buffalo   to  Ash- 
tabula, before  railroads  were  built,  and  of  the  beating  of 
the  waves  on  one  side  and  the   roar  of  the  wind   in  the 
forest,  on  the  other,  in  the  dark  tempestuous  night.      "I 
travelled  over  that  road  before  you,  and  I  took  the  Apos- 
tolic way,"  said  he.      "What  way  was  that.!""  I  asked. 


l82  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

"Afoot,  and  without  purse  or  scrip,"  was  the  answer. 
' '  What !  did  you  walk  ?  "  "  All  the  way,  over  a  hundred 
miles,  and  for  a  good  reason,  I  had  no  money  to  pay  for 
a  ride."  So  he  came  to  Ohio  from  the  poor  little  farm  at 
Feeding  Hills,  near  Springfield,  Massachusetts.  I  doubt 
not  he  was  as  cheery  and  hopeful  trudging  along  in  that 
wild  region  as  he  was  in  the  senate  chamber,  for  he  had 
a  hearty  courage  that  never  failed.  He  told  me  of  going 
to  a  dinner  at  the  White  House,  at  which  some  twenty 
Senators  and  diplomats  were  present,  with  President  Grant 
as  host.  Being  the  oldest  person,  he  was  seated  by  Mrs. 
Grant,  and  the  talk  aroui.d  the  table  turned  on  the 
religious  views  of  those  present,  all  speaking  freely  and 
without  controversy.  Mrs.  Grant  says  to  him :  "Where 
do  you  go  to  church?"  and  he  replied:  "  I  don't  go 
anywhere."  She  was  surprised,  and  said:  "I  know 
you  area  good  man,  Mr.  Wade,  and  I  supposed,  of  course, 
you  went  to  church.  Tell  me,  please,  why  you  don't 
go."  "Well,  I  don't  care  anything  about  most  of  their 
preaching.  I've  been  in  this  city  sixteen  winters,  and  I 
was  never  in  a  meeting-house  here.  It's  all  right  for 
others  to  go,  if  they  want  to,  but  this  eternal  hell  and  the 
devil  and  all  that  stuff  I  don't  care  about,  and  so  I  stay 
away."  "Then  you  don't  believe  in  eternal  punishment 
or  in  a  devil } "  asked  his  earnest  questioner.  "Why,  no, 
how  can  I .?  "he  replied,  and  she  thoughtfully  said,  "  Well, 
I  have  doubts  myself.  " 

He  was  charged  with  intemperance  and  habitual  and 
vulgar  profanity,  never  paying  any  heed  in  a  public  way 
to  these  charges.  In  1868  he  wrote  a  private  letter  to  G. 
G.  Washburn,  editor  Upper  Sandusky  Republican  (Ohio), 
in  answer  to  one  from  that  gentleman.  Mr.  Wade's 
letter  was  not  pubhshed  until  after  his  death.      He  said  : 

"They  speak  of  my  profanity,  which  I  utterly  deny,  to 
an  extent  more  than  is  common  with  men  of  the  world 
generally,  though  more,  I  admit,  than  can  be  justified. 
As  to  intemperance,  it  is  all  false.     I  do  not  believe  I  was 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  183 

ever  intoxicated  in  the  course  of  a  long  life,  nor  do  I  be- 
lieve that  in  all  that  time  I  have  ever  drank  one  gallon 
of  spirituous  liquors— never  had  a  taste  for  it,  and  do  not 
touch  it  once  a  year,  and  never  except  for  medicine.  .  . 
Do  you  believe  that  if  I  was  the  profane,  vulgar  wretch 
that  they  represent  me  to  be,  the  United  States  Senate 
would  have  made  me  their  presiding  otificer,  by  a  vote 
more  than  three  to  one  over  any  and  all  the  competitors 
for  that  position  ?  The  Senators  knew  me  well,  I  had 
served  with  them  through  all  our  trials  and  perils  for  more 
than  sixteen  years." 

In  1878  I  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Detroit  Post  and  Tribune, 
from  which  the  following  is  an  extract  : 

I  have  known  Mr.  Wade  for  ten  years,  have  sat  at 
the  same  table  with  him  for  months,  have  been  a  frequent 
visitor  at  his  rooms,  and  a  guest  at  the  Ohio  home  of  him- 
self and  his  excellent  wife,  and  have  spent  many  hours, 
long  to  be  remembered,  with  him.  Surely  I  ought  to 
know  something  as  to  what  manner  of  man  he  was. 
During  all  those  years  there  might  have  been  a  score  of 
times  or  less  when  he  broke  forth  into  oaths  in  my  hear- 
ing. He  was  too  clean-souled  a  man  to  be  a  vulgar  or 
coarse,  habitual  swearer.  In  rebuke  of  meanness,  or 
treason  to  humanity,  the  expletives  blazed  out  hot  and 
heavy,  as  expressions  of  moral  indignation  ;  but  the  rare 
humor,  quaint  good  sense  and  frank  directness  of  his 
daily  talk,  had  no  such  emphasizing.  His  ways  reminded 
me  of  a  word  in  a  speech  of  Rev.  Owen  Lovejoy,  of 
Illinois,  in  a  campaign  in  anti-slavery  days,  while  he  was 
a  member  of  Congress.  In  some  criticisms  on  profanity, 
Mr.  Lovejoy  said  :  "I  do  not  approve  of  swearing,  but 
o-ive  me  the  man  who  swears  for  freedom,  rather  than  the 
fellow  who  prays  for  slavery."  I  never  saw  wine  or 
spirits  on  his  table  nor  at  his  room  ;  never  saw  him  go  to 
a  bar  or  saloon  to  drink,  and  never  was  told  of  his  doing 
so  by  any  one  who  ever  did  see  him.     During  a  visit  at 


1 84  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

his  home  in  Jefferson,  Ohio,  in  the  last  year  of  his  life  on 
earth,  he  was  laughing-  about  the  stories  told  of  his 
whiskey  drinking  and  coarse  profanity,  and  said:  "I 
don't  think  I've  drank  the  amount  of  a  pint  of  liquor  in 
thirty  years ;"  and  Mrs.  Wade,  sitting  by,  said:  "That 
is  true." 

Stopping  over  Sunday,  I  spoke  in  a  hall  near  by,  and 
he  went  with  me  in  the  morning.  When  evening  came, 
knowing  that  he  seldom  attended  public  meetings  of  any 
kind  unless  obliged  to,  and  the  November  w^eather  being 
raw  and  cold,  I  said  to  him  :  "Don't  go  out,  I  know  you 
like  to  stay  at  home,"  and  he  replied  in  his  hearty  and 
humorous  way,  as  he  put  on  his  overcoat :  '*  I'm  a-going. 
You  got  the  brush  cleared  up  this  morning,  and  I  want 
to  see  which  way  you  strike  out  of  the  woods." 
In  Washington  he  kept  the  plain  and  simple  ways  of 
his  early  New  England  life,  was  singularly  temperate  in 
diet,  had  "  early  to  bed,  early  to  rise,"  as  his  motto  and 
practice,  and  attributed  his  tine  health  largely  to  these 
wise  habits.  From  the  age  of  ten  years  he  became  a 
doubter  of  theological  dogmas  and  authorities,  and  grew 
to  doubt  a  future  life — fortunately  holding  with  grand 
fidelity  to  the  practical  duties  of  this.  Within  a  few  years 
he  became  a  Spiritualist,  and  expressed  to  me  at  his  home 
just  before  his  last  sickness,  his  satisfaction  in  the  light 
his  views  gave  him  touching  this  life  and  the  life  beyond. 
Thus  much  in  justice  to  the  memory  of  a  fearless  and 
true  man. 

HENRY    C.     CAREY. 

"  Swart  smiters  of  the  glowing  steel, 
Dark  feeders  of  the  forge's  flame. 
Pale  watchers  at  the  loom  and  wheel, 
Repeat  his  honored  name." 

In  1867  I  had  occasion  to  write  Henry  C.  Carey,  and  a 
ready  reply  came,  in  a  fine  delicate  handwriting,  beauti- 
ful, yet  not  easy  to  decipher.     A  few  months  after  I  called 


UriVARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  185 

at  his  home  in  Philadelphia,  at  his  request,  and  thus  bc- 
<jan  a  personal  acquaintance  to  me  very  pleasant.  I  met 
him  a  score  of  times,  and  we  kept  up  an  occasional  cor- 
respondence, I  writing  mainly  for  information,  always 
cheerfully  given.  His  house  was  in  a  block  on  Wal- 
nut Street,  among  the  substantial  citizens  ;  externally 
a  plain  brick  structure  with  solid  square  stone  steps,  after 
the  old  Philadelphia  fashion.  Its  rooms  and  halls  were 
ample  and  comfortable.  The  large  parlors  on  the  first 
floor  were  his  library  and  sitting  rooms,  where  he  saw 
visitors.  I  found  him  seated  by  a  large  table,  busy 
among  papers  and  books,  but  he  rose  quickly,  came  for- 
ward with  eyes  full  of  life  and  light,  gracefully  led  me 
towards  an  easy  seat,  made  himself  at  ease  in  an  ample 
arm-chair,  and  then  said:  "You've  come  in  good 
time.  I  am  at  leisure,  and  we  can  have  a  good  talk." 
I  was  soon  trying  to  answer  his  quick  questions, 
and  listening  to  his  pungent  criticisms  of  men  and 
measures,  his  forcible  massing  of  facts,  and  his  lively 
narrations  and  pleasant  anecdotes,  softened  occasion- 
ally by  some  touch  of  tender  pathos.  His  youth  of 
spirit  and  person  surprised  me.  He  was  seventy-five,  yet 
it  was  impossible  to  think  of  old  age  in  that  buoyant 
presence.  He  would  be  leaning  back  in  his  seat  talking 
quietly  ;  suddenly  some  comment  or  suggestion  would 
stir  him,  and  he  would  spring  up,  stand  erect,  utter  his 
opinions  in  a  most  decided  and  emphatic  way,  and  quickly 
drop  back  to  his  seat  and  into  the  quieter  tone  of  easy 
conversation.  He  was  always  a  gentleman  in  the  true 
sense — a  clean-souled  and  high-minded  man — and  his 
manners  had  a  touch  of  the  stately  ways  of  a  past  genera- 
tion, mingled  with  a  cordial  and  sincere  simplicity.  Of 
good  stature  and  well-knit  frame  ;  his  skin  clear  as  that  of  a 
child,  his  black  eyes  brilliant  and  beautiful ;  his  features 
fine  and  firm,  and  an  elastic  readiness  in  every  motion,  I 
felt  that  he  must  have  inherited  good  health,  and  kept  it  by 


l86  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

pure  and  temperate  habits,  so  that  the  ripe  enjoyments 
of  old  age  came  naturally.  My  feeling  was  verified  on 
learning  the  facts  as  to  his  personal  habits.  The  spacious 
rooms  with  wide  open  arch  were,  indeed,  but  one ; 
thousands  of  volumes  were  on  their  shelves  ;  statuary  and 
choice  pictures  adorned  them  ;  the  wealth  of  books,  the 
inspiration  of  artistic  beauty,  and  the  ample  breadth  of 
space  and  lofty  ceiling  seemed  in  correspondence  with 
the  man  of  broad  thought  and  culture.  At  eachsucceed- 
hig  interview  my  first  impressions  were  still  the  same,  but 
I  realized  more  fully  his  wealth  of  thought  and  informa- 
tion. Political  Economy  had  been  his  leading  study  for 
over  thirty  years,  and  the  accurate  readiness  of  his  knowl- 
edire  of  facts  and  dates  and  statistics,  I  never  knew 
equalled.  His  reading  was  not  cramming,such  as  deadens 
and  narrows  too  many  scholars,  but  was  wisely  used  as 
help  and  inspiration  to  his  own  original  thought.  His 
masterly  writings  on  Social  Science  and  Protection  to 
Home  Industry  were  deeply  sincere,  and  inspired  by  a 
belief  that  the  well-being  of  the  people  would  be  helped 
by  carrying  out  his  views  in  national  legislation, 

John  Stuart  Mill  declared  that  "  political  economy 
only  concerns  itself  with  such  phenomena  of  the  social 
state,  as  take  place  in  consequenceofthepursuit  of  wealth," 
and  that  :  "  It  is  essentially  an  abstract  science,  and  its 
method  is  the  a  priori.  It  reasons,  and  must  neces- 
sarily reason,  upon  assumptions,  not  from  facts."  Carey 
held  it  as  connected  with  wealth  of  soul  as  well  as  of 
purse,  as  an  aid  to  the  best  civilization  most  widely  dif- 
fused among  the  people,  and  as  illustrated  by  facts  which 
verify  and  confirm  its  principles,  as  he  held  them.  Both 
these  men  were  sincere  and  able,  but  the  "  dismal  gospel  " 
of  Malthus  and  Ricnrdo,  upheld  by  Mill  is  in  striking  con- 
trast with  the  hopeful  and  beneficent  views  of  the  unity  of 
law  and  the  progress  of  man  as  given  by  Carey  ;  and  surely 
the  reasoning  "upon  assumptions  not  from  facts  "  of  the 


UPIVARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


187 


Englishman  is  poor  beside  the  soHd  facts  and  their  under- 
lying principles  as  shown  by  the  American.  Not  alone 
in  his  leading  study  was  Mr.  Carey  at  home.  He  was  not 
a  man  of  one  idea,  but  was  interested  in  literature,  in 
reform,  and  in  the  widening  thought  of  the  day.  His 
many  pamphlets  and  newspaper  articles  and  his  list  of 
large  books  tell  the  story  of  a  busy  life  as  a  student  and 
writer;  while  many  friends,  the  most  worthy  and  eminent, 
testify  to  his  social  and  personal  worth. 

I  never  asked  of  his  religious  opinions,  for  it  is  not 
decent  to  peer  into  the  sacred  deeps  of  sincere  souls,  but 
better  to  wait  until  they  open  naturally.  I  sent  him  a 
book — my  compilation  of  "  Poems  of  the  Life  Beyond  " — 
and  wrote  a  note  asking  its  acceptance  as  a  testimony  of 
my  regard.  Soon  came  back  his  reply,  in  that  delicate 
handwriting,  the  last  note  I  ever  had  from  him,  and  one 
of  the  best  and  most  pleasant.  He  said:  "I  thank  you 
for  the  book.  I  like  it.  ]\Iy  philosophy  does  not  put  a 
man  dead  in  the  mud  as  the  end."  That  was  enough  :  I 
knew  that  true  soul  looked  out  into  the  ineffable  light. 
Not  long  after,  at  his  house,  he  alluded  to  our  correspon- 
dence, and  said  :  "  I  have  had  a  vesper  service  in  this 
house  every  Sunday  evening  for  years,  and  I  invite  you  to 
come."  A  little  puzzled,  yet  not  quite  liking  to  ask  its 
nature  or  ritual,  I  thanked  him,  when  he  said  smiling  : 
''Everybody  calls  it  my  vespers,  and  so  I  take  the  name. 
Sunday  evenings  at  five  o'clock,  it  is  understood  that  I  am 
at  home  to  my  friends,  and  to  their  friends.  They  fill 
my  rooms.  We  talk  informally  of  whatever  comes  up, 
religious,  political  or  any  matter  of  thought  or  life.  We 
never  dispute.  We  discuss  everything,  we  settle  nothing. 
Men  of  all  opinions  are  welcome  and  come.  We  take 
some  simple  refreshments,  shake  hands  in  good  season, 
and  I  sleep  well  afterward,  and  hope  the  rest  do." 

Much  to  my  regret,  I  never  was  able  to  accept  his  invi- 
tation, for  these  assemblies  were  often  made  up  of  choice 


1 88  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

persons  from  far  and  near.  In  1872,  I  think,  he  came  to 
Detroit  with  his  friend  William  D.  Kelley,  M.  C,  and 
daughter,  and  they  stopped  a  day  at  Mr.  Ward's  on  their 
way  to  Lake  Superior.  The  upper  lake  steamers  left  at 
nig-ht,  and  they  wished  to  go  up  St.  Clair  river  by  daylight, 
and  took  a  steamer  to  Port  Huron  in  the  morning  to  em- 
bark on  their  Lake  Superior  boat  the  next  morning.  Mrs. 
Stebbins  and  myself  were  with  them.  \\\  Detroit  and  on 
the  boat,  we  admired  his  bearing  toward  women.  His 
politeness  had  the  courtly  grace  of  a  past  day,  but  it  had, 
too,  a  tender  and  sacred  reverence.  His  own  beloved 
wife  had  long  before  passed  away,  and  he  had  lived  in  the 
light  of  her  dear  memory.  It  seemed  as  though  his  feel- 
insrs  toward  her  had  made  all  womanhood  sacred  to  him. 
He  had  none  of  the  little  nothings  with  which  some  ex- 
ternally polite  men  try  to  entertain  women,  but  talked  to 
them  on  sensible  things,  in  a  sensible  way,  as  though  they 
were  to  be  respected  and  not  merely  flattered. 

At  Port  Huron  the  hotel-keeper  was  to  call  us  at  a  sure 
hour,  that  Mr.  Carey  and  the  rest  might  have  longer  rest, 
yet  be  up  in  time.  I  was  up  before  being  called  and  went 
to  his  door  in  due  time,  to  call  him.  Rapping  lightly,  he 
answered,  and  I  said  :  "You  have  a  half  hour  to  be  ready 
in,"  when  I  heard  him  spring  from  his  bed  to  the  floor  and 
come  to  the  door  as  lightly  as  a  boy,  and  few  lads  would 
have  dressed  sooner  or  as  neatly  as  this  rare  old  man. 
We  all  went  to  the  boat  and  it  was  pleasant  to  see  them 
start  on  such  a  fine  morning,  with  the  clear  water  spark- 
ling in  the  wake  of  the  vessel,  and  the  bright  sun  over 
all. 

In  1879  came  the  great  change.  No  painful  sickness, 
no  mental  decay,  the  pen  busy  to  the  last  week  and  its 
record  as  clear  as  ever,  his  friends  meeting  at  his 
"vespers  "  up  to  the  last  fortnight,  and  his  last  hour  sweetly 
peaceful.  The  great  city  of  his  home  expressed  its  sense 
of  the  honor  and  reverence  due  his  life  and  memory,  as 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  189 

did  many  persons  in  distant  States  of  our  Union,  and  a 
choice  company  of  eminent  Europeans,  his  friends  and 
correspondents.  Those  who  knew  him  best  had  most 
tender  regret  that  a  dear  friend  was  absent,  mingled  with 
satisfaction  that  his  long  life  here  had  closed  so  naturally. 

MILWAUKEE. 

In  1848-50  we  were  in  Milwaukee  a  year  or  more. 
For  some  months  I  had  editorial  charge  of  the  Daily  Wis- 
consin in  the  absence  of  the  editor,  William  E.  Cramer. 
When  he  proposed  that  I  should  take  his  place  for  a  time, 
I  said  to  him  :  "The  Wisconsi7i '\s  a  Democratic  paper. 
I  am  not  a  Democrat  and  cannot  write  in  support  of  the 
party."  His  answer  was  :  "There  is  no  election  pend- 
ing. Make  a  good  newspaper,  and  let  party  matters  go." 
This  I  was  willing  to  undertake,  and  always  remember 
his  just  and  generous  regard  to  my  feelings  with  pleas- 
ure. That  large  and  popular  daily  journal  was  a  business 
and  family  newspaper,  with  Democratic  tendencies  rather 
than  a  party  organ,  so  that  the  change  in  his  absence, 
though  noticeable,  was  not  so  great  as  if  the  sheet  had 
been  emphatic  in  its  partisanship. 

I  saw  the  first  locomotive  that  ever  was  brought  to 
Wisconsin  rolled  from  the  vessel's  deck  to  the  wharf  and 
the  near  railway  track,  amidst  the  cheers  of  a  gathered 
multitude.  Our  communication  with  the  outside  world 
was  by  steamers  on  Lake  Michigan,  or  by  stage.  A  part 
of  the  time  we  were  in  the  family  of  Rev.  !Mr.  Parsons, 
all  the  other  members,  some  twenty  or  more,  being  teach- 
ers and  scholars  in  a  school  for  the  higher  education  of 
women,  in  which  Catharine  Beecher  took  much  interest, 
and  of  which  Mrs.  Parsons  was  the  leading  teacher.  The 
social  life  of  the  family  was  very  pleasant. 

Miss  Beecher  spent  a  fortnight  with  us,  and  we  were 
all  interested  and  amused  by  her  frank  originality,  and 
strengthened  by  her  earnest  devotedness.     She  had  the 


190  UPWARD  STEPS  uF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

noble  idea  of  a  consecration  of  life  and  efforts  to  worthy 
objects,  and  her  aim  was  woman's  education  and  elevation 
in  the  West. 

One  evening-  a  large  meeting  of  leading  citizens  was 
held  in  a  church  to  hear  her  views  on  education  and  her 
plans  for  the  solid  establishment  of  her  school.  These 
she  had  carefully  prepared  in  manuscript,  and  engaged  a 
gentleman  to  read  it  to  the  audience.  This  he  tried  to  do, 
but,  between  the  strange  handwriting,  poor  lights  and 
poor  spectacles,  made  sad  stumbling  and  awkward  blun- 
ders— Miss  Beecher  meanwhile  suffering  martyrdom  as 
she  sat  silent,  with  distressed  face,  and  the  hearers  divided 
between  the  impulse  to  laugh  at  the  reading  and  to  pity 
her.  To-day  she  would  read  her  own  address,  and  give 
it  new  sense  and  weight,  as  many  then  wished  she  had. 

Frederica  Bremer  came  to  visit  a  colony  of  Swedes, 
working  pioneers  on  a  new  western  land,  stopped  in  the 
city  on  her  way,  and  made  her  home  with  us  a  few  days. 
In  the  parlor  and  at  table  we  saw  her  often — a  sincere 
and  unpretending  woman,  kind  and  cordial,  with  a  slight 
foreign  accent  that  gave  added  attractiveness  to  her 
musical  voice.  She  was  hardly  of  medium  stature,  and 
had  the  broad  cheek-bones  and  large  features  of  her  peo- 
ple—  a  plain  face,  yet  refined  and  animated  ;  eloquent 
eyes,  and  hands  especially  beautiful.  Her  presence  gave 
a  sense  of  light  and  warmth  and  tenderness. 

HOME     INDUSTRY. 

•'  They  are  noble — they  who  labor. 
Whether  with  the  hand  or  pen, 
If  their  hearts  beat  true  and  kindly 
For  their  working  fellow-men. 
And  the  day  is  surely  coming — 
Loveliest  since  the  world  began — 
When  good  deeds  shall  be  the  patent 
Of  nobiHty  to  man  !  " 

Two  aspects  of  New  England  life  come  to  mind  as  I 


UPWARD  STEPS  O/^'  SEVENTY  YEARS.  191 

look  back  to  boyhood  and  youth  :    one  is  its  intellectual 
activity  and  religious  earnestness,  the  other  its  industry  and 
thrift  in  material  things.     The  last  is  of  too  much  impor- 
tance to  be  passed  by;  is  closely  interlinked  indeed  with 
the  first,  each  influencing  and  affecting  the  other.     In  that 
old  hive  there  were  few  drones  ;  I  remember  many  busy 
people   but   few  idlers.      Steady  work,   careful  living,   a 
little  saved,  a  sure  and  steady  gain,  and  a  decent  compe- 
tence at  last,  was  the  rule.     No  craze  for  gold  mines  or 
stock  gambling  had  spread  over  the  happy  land,  and  each 
dollar  must  be  won  by  honest  labor.     A  young  man  came 
from    the  Berkshire   hills   to  work    on    my  uncle's  farm 
at  twelve  dollars  a  month  for  seven  months  in  the  year. 
In  the  winter  he  went  home,  paid  for  his  board  by  doing 
chores,  and  went  to  school,  sometimes  getting  a  little  pay 
for   chopping   or   teaming.     The   first   of   April    he  was 
promptly  at  the  farmhouse  to  begin  his  summer's  work, 
faithful    and   capable   always.      He  had  no  bad   habits, 
dressed  decently,  read   a   few    books  at  odd  hours,  was 
well  treated  and  respected,  and  for  seven  years  this  steady 
pull  went  on.     Then  he  married,  went  to  Ohio,  bought 
his  quarter  section  of  government  land,  and  was  a  rich 
farmer  twenty  years  ago.      He  was  a  good  type  of  a  use- 
ful and  honorable  class.     The  long  steady  pull  was  the 
old  way,  and  it  brought  the  rich  enjoyment  of  anticipation 
and  the  education  of  work — not    merely  the  training  of 
muscle  and  nerve,  but  the  persistence  of  will  and  the  dis- 
ciplined courage  that  comes  with  unwearied  effort. 

The  day  of  great  factories  had  not  come,  but  there 
were  a  great  many  small  mills  and  shops  of  many  kinds 
in  the  little  valleys  along  the  mountain  streams.  Where- 
ever  they  grew  up  I  could  see  new  benefits  to  the  near 
farmers,  not  only  a  lively  market  at  hand,  but  a  fresh 
activity  of  life,  the  boys  with  mechanical  genius  finding 
new  work  and  new  inspiration.  I  saw  the  growth  of 
larger  manufactories,  and  have  picked  berries  along  the 


192  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

Chicopee  river,  where  thousands  now  work  in  the  mills. 
I  rode  through  the  quiet  pasture  fields  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  Connecticut  at  South  Hadley  Falls,  where  there  is 
now  a  great  canal  with  abundant  water-power,  and  where 
fifty  thousand  people  gain  a  fair  livelihood  in  the  paper 
mills  and  wire  works  and  woolen  and  cotton  factories  at 
Holyoke.  I  have  seen  those  pastures  become  rich  and 
valuable  farms,  with  a  ready  sale  at  the  mills  close  by 
for  all  they  raise,  even  to  cabbages  and  fallen  apples. 
At  first  the  factory  workers  were  from  near  home.  "  The 
Lowell  Offering"  was  famed  as  the  literary  work  of  the 
girls  in  the  mills.  Whittier  wrote  of  "acres  of  girlhood, 
beauty  by  the  square  rod,"  in  describing  them  coming 
out  from  their  Avork  and  thronging  the  streets.  INIany  a 
mortgage  was  lifted  off  from  farms  among  the  hills  by  the 
mill-wages  of  girls  who  came  to  their  tasks  fresh  as  the 
briar  roses  that  grew  by  the  brown  fence  in  their  mother's 
garden,  and  who  went  back  with  that  freshness  still  on 
their  cheeks  and  in  their  souls.  Then  came  foreigners, 
mostly  duller  and  of  a  lower  grade,  but  their  life  here 
better  than  they  ever  knew  at  home.  A  factory  is  not  a 
paradise ;  the  clatter  of  its  mechanism  is  not  the  music 
of  the  spheres  ;  yet  these  varied  employments  are  a  ben- 
efit, full  of  the  promise  of  a  still  better  future.  I  went  to 
the  West  and  found  the  rich  prairies  on  the  Wabash 
slowly  decreasing  in  their  products,  the  market  distant, 
the  "skinning"  process  going  on,  exhausting  the  grain- 
growing  constituents  of  the  soil,  by  sending  its  crops  far 
away.  I  saw,  too,  that  the  farm  life  was  dull  and  poor. 
This  might  be  partly  race  and  climate,  but  there  was  no 
variety  of  occupation,  no  scope  for  genius  and  skill. 
Genius,  without  scope  for  its  exercise,  is  like  the  hands  of 
the  Hindoo  fakir,  which  are  strong  and  swift  in  motion 
before  he  clasps  them  over  his  head,  but  weak  and  par- 
alyzed after  being  thus  held  useless  and  immovable  for 
years. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


193 


This  was  a  valuable  lesson.  It  taught  me  the  need  of 
the  varied  industry  and  skill  of  farm,  shop  and  factory. 
The  meeting-  and  mingling  of  these  many  life-currents, 
tinged  and  shaped  by  such  wide  mastery  of  man  over 
nature's  forces  and  materials,  is  full  of  benefit.  It  is 
civilization  and  culture,  wealth  of  soul  as  well  as  of 
purse.  To  the  farmer  it  is  increase  of  the  product  of  his 
acres,  economy  of  exchange,  work  of  hand  or  brain  for 
whatever  gift  of  power  or  character  his  children  may 
possess,  instant  and  constant  call  for  a  variety  of  labor, 
and  all  the  while  the  tide  of  inventive  genius  pulsing 
through  the  serene  quiet  of  his  life  in  the  fields,  s*aving  it 
from  narrowness  or  stagnation,  that  he  may  the  more 
enjoy  nature's  beauty  and  the  better  make  her  forces 
serve  him.  We  cannot  have  the  best  farming  until  we 
have  the  best  manufacturing,  in  varied  forms  and  mate- 
rials, near  the  farm,  each  an  indispensable  help  to  the 
growth  and  perfectness  of  the  other. 

I  visited  the  South,  and  saw  there  the  effects  of  having 
but  the  one  cotton  growing  industry  ;  impoverished  soil, 
dull  and  degraded  labor.  The  new  South  is  beginning  to 
change  all  this,  by  the  building  up  of  manufactures  and 
the  varying  of  farm  products  ;  and  the  life  of  the  people 
is  already  quickened  and  uplifted.  They  begin  faintly  to 
realize  the  blessings  of  a  varied  industry,  that  can  only 
come  to  a  free  people,  and  was  impossible  under  the  old 
regime  of  slavery. 

In  my  earlier  days,  in  Massachusetts,  I  saw  seasons  of 
prosperity  and  of  trouble,  and  read,  and  heard  from  my 
father  and  others,  how  the  first  came  with  protective 
tariffs  and  the  last  with  free  trade,  but  the  matter  did  not 
take  strong  hold  on  me.  I  saw  it  as  a  question  of  profit 
and  loss  for  some  rich  men,  or  as  a  political  party  quar- 
rel. I  was  not  a  free-trader,  but  had  no  vital  interest  in 
the  case.  Becoming  deeply  engaged  in  the  anti-slavery 
movement,  I  did  not  overrate  its  importance,  but  under- 

13 


194 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


rated  that  of  economic  questions.  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison 
and  others  of  the  abolitionists  whom  I  greatly  respected, 
inclined  to  free  trade  ;  for  their  English  anti-slavery  friends 
were  free-traders,  and  the  movement  there  had  a  glamour 
of  philanthropy,  a  promise — honestly  made  by  some 
good  men — of  benefit  to  the  working  man  ;  as  events 
have  proved,  "a  promise  made  to  the  ear  but  broken  to 
the  hope."  Most  of  the  College  teachers  were  free- 
traders, as  the  majority  still  are,  but  I  saw  that  most  of 
these  men  were  also  pro-slavery,  educating  young  men 
in  Greek  and  Latin,  but  not  in  common  humanity.  Those 
were  the  days  when  Theodore  Parker  said:  "The  old 
Egyptians  took  four  days  to  mummyize  a  dead  body,  but 
Harvard  College  takes  four  years  to  mummyize  a  living 
soul."  Therefore  the  proclivities  of  these  learned  pun- 
dits did  not  have  great  weight  with  me.  I  thought  that 
if  they  could  ignore  chattel  slavery  so  weakly,  or  tight  its 
battles  against  the  abolitionists  with  so  much  zeal,  they 
could  easily  be  led  to  teach  plausible  theories,  instead  of 
facts  and  home  arguments  far  better,  but  not  so  easy 
to  master. 

When  our  civil  war  began,  I  saw  that  slavery  and  free 
trade  were  the  corner  stones  of  the  Confederate  constitu- 
tion ;  and  when  it  ended,  I  saw  them  both  broken  in 
pieces.  In  due  time  my  early  and  later  observations  had 
their  effect,  and  political  economy  wore  a  new  aspect, 
and  had  a  deeper  interest,  as  affecting  the  well-being  of 
the  people.  I  became  an  advocate  of  protection  to  home- 
industry,  as  opposed  to  free  trade. 

In  1S65  I  wrote  a  pamphlet:  "British  Free  Trade  a 
delusion,"  published  in  Detroit  and  widely  circulated — 
and  have  written  other  tracts  and  articles,  and  lectured 
on  these  subjects.  In  1882-3  ^  prepared  with  much  care 
and  labor,  a  book  of  two  hundred  pages  :  The  American 
Protectionist's  Manual — a  condensation  of  facts  and  argu- 
ments for  popular  use,    of  which  several    large    editions 


UP  IVA  RD  S  TEPS  OF  SE  VENTY  YEA  RS.  195 

have  been  issued.  On  this  important  subject,  as  on  every 
other,  let  each  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind, 
and  for  this,  both  sides  should  be  examined.  If  you  can- 
not meet  the  statements  or  ideas,  on  any  subject,  of  those 
from  whom  you  differ,  look  out  for  yourself,  my  good 
reader.  Sometimes  your  facts  may  not  be  at  hand,  but 
if  well  grounded  in  your  principles  and  sure  that  the 
facts  can  be  had,  that  may  answer.  If  you  feel  lame, 
both  in  principles  and  facts,  it  is  time  to  revise  your 
opinions  and  perhaps  to  change  them. 

SCIENTIFIC  AND  INDUSTRIAL   EDUCATION. 

♦'Work,  brothers  mine;  work,  hand  and  brain; 

We'll  win  the  golden  age  again; 

And  Love's  millenial  morn  shall  rise 

In  happy  hearts  and  blessed  eyes. 

Hurrah  !  hurrah  !  true  knights  are  we, 

In  labor's  lordlier  chivalry." 

Gerald  Massey, 

A  people  content  with  crude  products  and  unskilled 
labor  can  never  reach  a  high  civilization.  Skill,  artistic 
taste,  and  training  in  the  practical  application  of  science 
and  art  to  industry,  are  important  elements  in  education. 
Such  education  must  reach  our  schools — now  too  much 
devoted  to  an  abstract  intellectual  drilling,  which  becomes 
cold  and  dull  when  separated  from  the  work  of  life  and 
from  the  moral  sentiments. 

In  the  autumn  of  1872  I  gave  an  address  on  Scientific 
and  Industrial  Education  in  Toledo,  Ohio,  by  invitation  of 
the  Trustees  of  the  Toledo  University  of  Arts  and  Trades. 
That  institution,  endowed  by  J.  W.  Scott,  a  pioneer  citi- 
zen, has  become  a  useful  department  of  the  public  High 
School,  with  a  large  building  filled  with  apparatus  for 
working  in  wood  and  iron,  architectural  and  mechanical 
drawing,  cooking  and  dressmaking — all  in  successful 
operation  to  the  marked  benefit  and  enjoyment  of  the 
pupils. 


196  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

Visits  there,  and  to  some  of  our  large  technical  schools 
in  the  East,  have  been  a  great  pleasure  and  profit  to  me. 
The  address  was  reported  in  the  newspapers,  and  had 
wide  circulation  in  pamphlet  from  Detroit,  and  through 
the  Government  Bureau  of  Education  at  Washington.  Ex- 
tracts from  its  opening  pages  will  give,  in  brief,  some 
thoughts  on  this  important  subject.  Details  of  such  schools 
in  Europe,  and  at  home  are  omitted  : 

"The  Spanish  Toledo,  an  old  and  decaying  city  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tagus,  2, 200  feet  above  the  sea,  amidst  rocks 
and  hills,  was  called  "Toledom" — mother  of  people — by 
its  Jewish  founders.  It  was  full  of  life  under  Moorish 
sway  a  thousand  years  since ;  a  splendid  capitol  under 
old  Spanish  Kings,  noted  for  its  famed  sword-blades, 
its  woolens,  silks  and  leather;  but  now  it  is  reduced  from 
200,000  to  16,000  inhabitants,  representing  an  effete  civ- 
ilization, smitten  because  it  had  fallen  behind  in  art  and 
science,  and  the  culture  and  freedom  of  its  people. 

This  new  Toledo,  full  of  the  fresh  life  of  our  young 
West,  must  move  on  and  keep  pace  with  the  world's 
thought  and  life.  Here  we  want  education  for  all — the 
educing,  the  calling  out,  of  every  faculty  and  power, 
ready  for  the  work  of  life,  and  fit  to  make  that  life  noble 
and  harmonious. 

We  have  made  some  progress  in  intellectual,  moral  and 
spiritual  culture,  with  ample  scope  for  more  ;  but  our 
technical  education,  the  drill  of  eye,  hand  and  brain  for 
artistic  work,  done  with  scientific  exactness,  is  just 
beginning;  yet  M^e  must  have  it  to  perfect  that  life, 
mingled  of  the  ideal  and  the  practical,  which  is  before 
us  all.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  a  college  spoils  a  student 
for  practical  duties.  Let  this  all  be  changed,  and  let  us 
shape  our  schools  towards  the  wants  and  work  and 
thought  of  our  own  time,  taking  what  help  we  may 
from  the  past,  but  acting  for  the  present,  and  looking  to 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


197 


the  future.     This  is  the  ideal  of  the  University  of  Arts  and 
Trades. 

This  noble  effort  will  not  only  add  to  your  material 
wealth,  which  is  important,  but  will  lift  up  the  standard 
of  life. 

Such  schools  are  a  great  want  in  our  country,  where 
there  is  such  demand  for  scientific  skill,  practically 
applied  to  the  development  of  our  great  natural  resources, 
to  carry  us  beyond  the  furnishing  of  raw  materials  and 
the  ruder  products  of  untrained  labor  and  Titanic  strength, 
to  the  finer  and  more  artistic  productions  of  skill  and  in- 
ventive genius.  We  want  them  to  make  our  labor  more 
productive,  and  at  the  same  time  to  elevate  its  character, 
and  thus  enlarge  the  laborer's  life  ;  to  save  the  waste  that 
always  results  from  crude  and  unskilled  processes ; 
and  to  give  us  that  mastery  over  nature's  finer  elements 
which  is  symmetry,  beauty,  permanence  and  strength 
in  every  product  of  the  skilled  worker. 

The  natural  aptitude  and  readiness  of  our  workmen  is 
remarkable,  and  if  we  can  add  to  this  the  discipline  and 
drill  of  scientific  training,  we  are  masters  of  the  situation. 
We  little  think  what  advantage  skill  gives.  Let  a  farmer 
raise  but  five  per  cent,  more  and  better  crops  to  the  acre 
than  his  neighbor,  and  middle  life  finds  the  one  far  ahead 
of  the  other  ;  and  in  mechanism  and  manufactures  the  dif- 
ference is  still  more  striking.  A  new  process  of  mining 
or  iron  making,  of  weaving  or  dyeing,  giving  but  a  slight 
margin  in  quantity  or  quality  of  results,  distances  all  com- 
petition, and  gives  a  solid  reputation  that  sells  the  product 
with  no  trouble. 

Krupp  makes  the  best  steel  cannon  in  the  world  in  his 
great  shops  in  Essen,  Prussia,  and  his  buyers  seek  him 
and  pay  his  prices,  for  quality  is  more  precious  than 
quantity,  and  the  guarantee  of  a  master  of  his  art  is  better 
than  gold. 

The  honest  excellence  of  our  Western   woolen  goods, 


1^8  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

is  becoming'-  known  and  makes  demand  for  them.  Let  us 
master  chemistry  as  applied  to  dyeing,  so  that  our  colors 
shall  be  as  fine  and  fast  as  those  of  the  best  French  fabrics, 
and  we  conquer  the  world  in  peaceful  strife,  and  this  is 
the  aim  of  technical  instruction. 

Classical  and  literary  culture  are  not  to  be  slighted  or 
undervalued,  but  they  must  be  shaped  to  meet  the  life  of 
to-day,  not  to  feed  a  pedantic  pride  or  to  create  a  clois- 
tered exclusiveness. 

Modern  culture  must  meet  modern  life,  and  the  sway 
and  power  of  science  and  art  is  a  great  element  in  that 
life.  Our  daily  experience  holds  us  close  to  facts,  and 
keeps  us  in  the  realm  of  laws  which  science  must  know 
and  obey,  and  apply,  and  gain  mastery  by  that  fine 
obedience. 

Our  best  colleges  are  recognizing  this  by  the  growth  of 
their  scientific  departments  and  their  more  practical  edu- 
cational tendencies,  and  a  broader  and  truer  scholarship, 
and  a  more  generous  humanity,  will  result  therefrom. 
Let  our  public  schools  follow  in  the  same  line. 

Professional  life  is  full.  In  every  Western  town  or  city 
are  lawyers,  physicians,  and  even  clergymen,  quite  enough 
for  the  disputes  of  the  people,  or  to  minister  to  bodies  or 
souls  diseased,  and  many  of  these  keep  poor,  and  never 
reach  even  a  decent  mediocrity  of  place  or  influence, 
from  the  pedantry  and  narrowness  of  their  culture  and 
thought ;  but  if  a  mine  is  to  be  opened,  a  factory  built  and 
managed, a  railroad  built  and  engineered,  or  a  great  farm 
to  be  carried  on  with  adequate  success,  one  must  seek 
far  and  wide  for  the  skill  and  power  equal  to  such  work. 

This  is  a  question  of  character  as  well  as  dollars. 
Scientific  schools  will  make  mining,  weaving,  mechanism, 
engineering  and  farming  as  eminent  and  distinguished 
as  what  are  called  ' '  the  learned  professions, ''  and  we  shall 
have  a  class  of  men  and  women  cultivated  in  habits  and 
manners,  yet  willing  and  able  to  take  hold  of  the  world's 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  199 

work  with  courage  and  hope,  with  skill  and  persistent 
power. 

MORAL     EDUCATION. 

*' And  ye  shall  succor  men, 
'Tis  nobleness  to  serve  ; 
Help  them  who  cannot  help  again; 
Beware  from  right  to  swerve." 

The  beginning  of  all  education  is  in  the  home.  The 
life  of  maturer  years,  the  work  of  heart  and  brain  and 
hand  in  the  world's  wide  field  is  its  great  University,  with 
highest  honors,  largest  attainments  and  saddest  failures. 
While  it  is  true  that  the  larger  part  of  our  education  is 
outside  of  all  schoolhouses,  that  does  not  lessen  the  im- 
portance of  the  years  of  training  within  their  walls.  Not 
only  is  the  practical  element  lacking  in  those  years 
(which  industrial  and  scientific  education  will  supply),  but 
the  moral  element  also.  In  our  blind  zeal  for  intellectual 
cramming  we  neglect  the  foundations  of  character  and  the 
fine  humanities.  We  wisely  remit  dogmatic  theology  to 
the  pulpit,  but  shall  ethics,  and  those  natural  religious 
sentiments  which  prompt  us  the  sacred  doing  of  duty  be 
also  banished  or  held  unimportant?  A  larger  proportion 
of  crime  than  is  supposed  is  perpetrated  by  men  of  good 
school  education — keen  brains  and  dull  moral  senses. 

In  1780  the  Constitution  of  Massachusetts  declared: 
"  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  legislature  in  all  future  periods 
of  the  commonwealth  to  cherish  the  interests  of  literature 
and  the  sciences  and  all  seminaries  thereof,  to  coun- 
tenance and  inculcate  the  pnnciples  of  humanity  and 
general  benevolence,  public  and  private  charity,  industry 
and  frugality,  honesty  and  punctuality  in  their  dealings, 
sincerity  and  good  humor  and  all  social  affections  and 
generous  sentiments." 

We  may  well  apply  the  spirit  of  that  noble  declaration, 
interpreted  in  the  light  of  our  day,  to  our  school  educa- 
tion.     It  would  be  like  a  stream   of  golden   light  making 


200  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

clear  the  upward  path  of  the  student,  from  the  primary 
lessons  of  lisping  childhood  to  the  highest  exercises  of  the 
college  graduate. 

We  need  in  all  our  schools  some  affirmative  teaching  of 
the  excellence  of  virtue,  the  hideousness  and  danger  of 
vice  and  dishonesty,  the  joys  of  a  clean  and  pure  life,  and 
the  grandeur  of  self-control.  What  the  method  of  this 
moral  education  shall  be,  cannot  be  discussed  here,  but 
that  we  greatly  need  it  is  plain  enough.  I  have  noticed 
that  lessons  of  this  kind  are  informally  given  in  schools  by 
\v'omen,  more  than  by  men.  Often  in  later  years  they  are 
aff"ectionately  remembered,  and  of  great  benefit.  Send 
out  the  scholar  with  intellect  and  practical  skill,  and  intui- 
tive moral  sentiments  developed  and  disciplined,  and  he 
is  full-orbed  and  harmonious,  ready  for  the  highest  and 
most  useful  work  for  the  common  good. 

THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    BODY. 

"Do  the  works,  and  ye  shall  know  of  the  doctrine, 
whether  it  be  true  or  not,"  is  inspired  and  inspiring 
philosophy — pliilo-sophia,  to  love  wisdom,  as  the  Greek 
roots  of  the  w^ord  signify  ;  and  to  love  a  thing  we  must 
feel  attracted  to  it,  and  then  test  it  by  trial,  and  so  learn 
if  it  be  indeed  wisdom  and  worthy  of  lasting  love. 

The  old  Romans  had  a  good  motto  :  "  J/e?is  sana  in 
corpore  sano  " — a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body.  It  might 
be  enlarged  so  as  to  read,  in  our  vernacular  :  A  sound 
and  pure  mind  and  soul  in  a  sound  and  pure  body. 

For  that  sound  and  pure  body,  a  good  inheritance  is  a 
great  help,  and  that  goes  back  to  ancestry  and  heredity 
and  invests  parental  responsibility  with  high  sanctity. 
But  it  is  with  bodily  health  as  it  is  with  any  patrimony  ; 
the  heir  may  increase  it  to  his  own  joy  and  that  of  others, 
or  squander  it  by  blind  folly  or  in  base  misuse,  as  he  is 
wise  or  otherwise.  How  are  we  using  our  bodily  heritage  ? 
Does  health  wax  or  wane  with  us  ?     Duty  to  the  soul  is 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  201 

well,  but  so  is  duty  to  the  body.  The  first  is  impossible 
without  the  last.  Did  Simon  Stylites,  who  stood  on  a 
pillar  some  forty  feet  high  in  the  desert  for  a  score  of 
years,  gain  any  spiritual  wealth  by  such  absurd  bodily 
exposure  ? 

Did  the  old  dirty  monks,  scourging  themselves  into 
semi-insanity,  help  themselves,  or  others,  thereby  ?  Let 
all  manner  of  Simons  come  down  from  their  pillars,  all 
manner  of  dirty  men  wash  up  and  live  clean,  hoe  corn  or 
do  something  useful,  and  give  a  little  thought  to  their 
bodies.  Let  the  eternal  life  give  new  grace  and  grander 
meaning  to  each  day  here  and  now.  To  neglect  bodily 
health  and  ignore  good  habits,  while  wrapt  in  ectasy  over 
visions  of  the  seventh  heaven,  is  as  though  one  kept  fixed 
eyes  on  a  distant  mountain-top  he  was  bound  to  reach, 
and  so  stumbled  over  unseen  stones,  and  fell  into  yawn- 
ing chasms  at  his  feet.  The  mountain-top  never  would 
be  reached,  but  a  poor  battered  dead  body  would  be 
found  lying  among  the  ragged  rocks  at  its  foot. 

Good  readers,  one  and  all,  and  especially  those  who 
have  family  responsibilities,  do  you  study  dietetic  and 
sanitary  laws .?  Do  you  learn  what  is  healthy  for  the 
children,  as  you  do  what  is  best  for  your  horses  and  cattle  } 
Do  you  keep  your  daily  food  m  pure  air,  or  where  it 
absorbes  the  miasma  of  some  bad  cellar  or  the  pent  air  of 
bedroom  or  kitchen }  Do  you  think  how  the  invisible 
poisons  are  the  most  insidious  and  deadly,  and  your  food 
may  be  fatally  tainted  from  want  of  being  kept  where 
oxygen  abounds .?  Always  have  plenty  of  pure  air  in  the 
pantry,  and  be  sure  no  other  gets  there. 

Without  fussiness,  or  pinning  down  all  sorts  of  people 
to  bran  bread  or  anything  else,  we  do  want  knowledge  of 
good  food  and  of  clean  and  wholesome  cookery. 

For  some  years,  in  my  Hatfield  youth,  I  boarded  with 
Mrs.  Polly  Graves,  while  doing  duty  in  a  store  near  by. 
She  was  a  conscientious  and  devoted  Puritan,  an  excellent 


202  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

housekeeper,  not  only  in  the  matter  of  diet,  but  in  wise 
and  motherly  care  of  her  children.  Housekeeping  includes 
care  of  food  and  raiment,  but  it  takes  in  much  more.  She 
cared  for  mind  and  soul  as  well  as  for  body.  There  was 
always  a  fair  but  not  large  variety  of  well-prepared  food 
on  her  table,  occasionally  changed  to  -other  kinds.  She 
said  :  "  Husband  and  I  like  variety,  but  not  all  piled  on  at 
once  ;  something  good  to-day  and  something  else  to- 
morrow. It  saves  trouble,  and  is  better  for  us  and  the 
children." 

A  o-ood  farmer  has  his  stables  well  ventilated.  He 
knows  that  cows  and  horses  must  have  pure  air.  Does  he 
know  his  children  need  it  a  great  deal  more,  as  the  human 
body  is  more  sensitive  than  that  of  the  beast } 

Does  he  keep  all  foul  accumulations  or  bad  odors  far 
from  his  house,  and  especially  keep  his  cellar  clean  and 
sweet,  with  all  decayed  vegetables  removed.'  Even  a 
library  of  the  best  books  is  no  antidote  for  the  poison  of 
spoiled  cabbage  in  a  cellar  beneath  !  Going  to  church 
will  not  clean  the  tobacco  cancer,  out  of  the  system.  The 
alcohol  poison —  a  worse  devil  than  the  raging  Satan  of 
old  theology — will  work  ruin  even  in  palaces. 

All  should  have  in  mind  the  lofty  ideal  of  self-poise  and 
self-control — the  supremacy  of  the  soul  over  the  senses. 

Theodore  Parker,  spoke  of  infants  as  "  bringing  the 
fragrance  of  heaven  in  their  baby  breath."  What  a  world 
of  beauty  this  would  be  if  that  bodily  purity  of  the  sweet 
babe  could  make  manhood  and  womanhood,  even  to  old 
age,  as  sweet. 

All  this  is  what  Parker  called  :  "  The  Religion  of  the 
Body." 

Of  this  religion  a  great  revival  should  sweep  over  the 
land.  Old-fashioned  revivals  are  on  the  wane  ;  let  this 
new-fashioned  awakening  to  the  need  of  good  heredity, 
and  clean  and  healthy  bodies  take  their  place.  I  once 
knew  a  pious  man  groaning  with  dyspepsia,  and  learned 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  203 

that  his  loving-  but  ignorant  daughter  had  brought  him  a 
piece  of  mince-pie  at  bed-time  each  night  for  years.  I 
said  to  the  poor  man  :  "If  you  had  studied  physiology 
more  and  theology  in  creeds  less  you  would  be  healthier 
now,"  and  he  thoughtfully  and  sorrowfully  answered, 
"  I  think  it  may  be." 

It  is  not  ignoring  spiritual  culture,  but  giving  bodily 
culture  and  daily  habits  their  due  place,  that  we  want. 

The  healthy  and  clean  man  has  a  clean  atmosphere 
which  is  no  barrier  but  an  attraction  to  the  best  spiritual 
influences. 

Give  us  a  great  revival  of  this  Religion  of  the  Body. 
In  remembrance  of  sour  bread,  meat  raw  or  burned,  coffee 
and  tea  weak  as  water  or  strong  as  lye,  but  all  worthless, 
bad  and  stifled  air,  tobacco  smell  and  smoke,  and  other 
odors  not  like  those  of  Araby  the  blest,  which  I  have 
endured  and  still  live,  thanks  to  a  tough  ancestry !  this 
word  is  written.  Would  it  could  be  "known  and  read  of 
all  men,"  and  women  also.  I  do  not  forget  the  many 
beautifully  ordered  and  healthful  homes  which  are  pleasant 
memories, 

JUGOI  ARINORI  MORI. 
JAPANESE    RELIGIOUS    VIEWS. 

In  Washington,  one  evening  in  the  winter  of  1873,  I 
attended  a  literary  reunion  at  the  house  of  Hon.  Horatio 
King.  The  exercises  of  the  evening  were  closed,  and, 
as  was  the  custom  in  those  interesting  meetings,  the 
pleasant  company  of  perhaps  a  hundred  persons,  were 
engaged  in  easy  and  animated  conversation.  I  noticed 
a  group  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  hovering  around  a  cen- 
tral figure  which  it  was  difficult  to  get  a  glimpse  of.  At 
last  I  saw  a  man,  hardly  of  middle  stature,  of  refined 
temperament  and  graceful  deportment,  with  complexion 
and  features  that  bespoke  his  nationality,  his  fine  eyes  as 


204  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

eloquent  as  his  voice.  Finding-  IMr.  King  I  learned  that 
this  attractive  foreigner  was  Jugoi  Arinori  ^^lori,  Charge 
d'Affaires  from  the  Empire  of  Japan.  I  knew  that  he  was 
sent  to  our  country  mainly  to  gain  information  touching 
our  education,  material  condition,  habits,  political  and 
religious  life,  that  Japan  might  better  know  our  good  and 
ill,  and  had  heard  of  him  as  well  fitted  for  so  important  a 
mission.  Being  introduced  I  said  I  would  like  to  call  at 
his  convenience,  giving  a  general  idea  of  what  was  in  my 
mind.  He  replied  :  "Call  at  any  time,"  and  a  few  days 
after,  about  ten  o'clock,  I  found  my  way  to  his  house  in 
the  west  part  of  the  city,  an  ample  mansion  furnished  in 
Japanese  fashion,  although,  oddly  enough,  an  Irishman 
opened  the  door  for  my  entrance.  In  a  few  moments 
Arinori  Mori  came  in,  met  me  with  simple  ease  and  cor- 
diality, and  an  hour's  conversation  followed,  very  inter- 
esting to  me,  and  which  he  seemed  to  wish  to  prolong 
rather  than  to  shorten. 

I  said,  substantially,  that  my  wish  was  to  inform  him 
of  some  phases  of  our  religious  life  with  which  he  might 
not  be  familiar,  and  then  tried  to  give  him  some  idea  of 
Unitarianism,  Universalism,  Free  Religion,  Quakerism, 
and  Spiritualism  and  natural  religion.  I  told  him  that  the 
millions  among  us  who  held  these  views  were  growing  in 
willingness  to  accept  truth  from  Pagan  or  Christian,  and 
in  a  sense  of  "the  sympathy  of  religions  "  and  the  spirit- 
ual fraternity  of  the  race. 

He  showed  deep  interest,  and  said  that  many  of  what 
we  call  evangelical  clergymen  had  talked  with  him  and 
given  him  books  ;  that  he  had  been  interested  and  helped 
by  what  they  had  said,  and  held  their  kindness  in  grate- 
ful remembrance,  and  was  now  glad  to  hear  these  state- 
ments, and  so  add  to.  his  impartial  knowledge  of  our 
religious  opinions.  I  asked  if  he  could  accept  books 
from  me,  and  he  answered:   "Certainly,  with  pleasure, 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  205 

any  books  you  send  me  will  be  sent  to  the  royal  library 
at  Jeddo."  I  asked  :  "Of  what  use  will  books  in  English 
be  there?"  and  he  quickly  replied  :  "Our  educated  peo- 
ple read  your  language,  and  you  may  be  sure  that  your 
books  will  be  read  with  much  interest." 

On  parting  he  cordially  said  :  "Come  again,  when  it 
suits  you." 

In  a  few  days  I  gathered  together  some  forty  volumes, 
among  which  I  remember  the  admirable  "  No  Cross,  No 
Crown,"  of  William  Penn,  the  works  of  William  E.  Chan- 
ning,  the  best  of  O.  B.  Frothingham,  Epes  Sargent,  Hudson 
Tuttle,  and  others,  aiming  to  get  the  ablest  statements  and 
illustrations  of  the  views  which  we  had  discussed.  I 
added  my  compilation  of  gospels  from  many  peoples  : 
"Chapters  from  the  Bible  of  the  Ages,"  which  especially 
interested  him.  These  I  sent  him,  with  a  letter,  to  which 
he  replied,  speaking  of  "the  value  and  usefulness  of  the 
books,  not  only  to  myself,  but  to  my  countrymen  and 
women." 

These  I  presented  as  from  E.  B.  Ward  of  Detroit,  as  I 
had  been  authorized  to  buy  books  for  him  and  myself. 

M.  Mori  also  sent  me  two  copies  of  a  pamphlet  of  his 
"Religious  Freedom  in  Japan,"  addressed  to  "His  Ex- 
cellency Saneyoshi  Sanjo,  prime  minister  in  his  imperial 
majesty's  government,"  a  finely  written  plea  for  a  "  relig- 
ious charter  for  the  empire  of  Dai  Niphon,"  (Japan).  In 
this  he  says  that  "Matters  of  conscience  and  religious 
faith"  are  to  be  "determined  only  by  reason  and  con- 
science, not  by  force  and  violence.  No  man  or  society 
has  any  right  to  impose  his,  or  its,  opinions  or  interpreta- 
tions on  any  other  in  religious  matters,  since  every  man 
must  be  responsible  for  himself."  He  speaks  of  "avoid- 
ing for  our  nation  the  misery  which  the  experience  of  the 
world  shows  has  followed  state  patronage  of  any  form  of 
religion,"  and  asks  that  all  religions  shall  be  free,  none 


206  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

interfered  with,  none  have  special  privileges  or  favors, 
"  and  no  action  which  may  promote  religious  animosity 
be  allowed  within  the  realm." 

His  dissent  from  state  endorsement  of  any  religion, 
Pagan  or  Christian,  is  clear,  but  he  speaks  of  Christianity 
in  most  respectful  and  friendly  terms. 

I  visited  him  a  second  time,  and  the  two  hours  were 
filled  with  earnest  and  interesting  conversation,  in  which 
I  gained  much  information. 

Not  wishing  to  catechise  him  personally,  I  put  this 
question  :  What  are  the  religious  opinions  of  those  with 
whom  you  associate .''  This,  I  thought,  would  bring  an 
answer  with  an  idea  of  the  views  and  thoughts  of  the 
educated  class  of  his  people.  He  took  the  question  to 
himself  and  replied  : 

"Your  Christian  ministers  have  given  me  views  which 
I  prize  highly.  In  the  writings  of  Confucius  and  Buddha 
is  much  I  find  good,  and  our  old  Sintoo  religion,  the 
faith  of  our  people,  has  truths  also.  I  look  over  the 
whole  ground,'  and  looking  upward  expressively, "  he 
added,  "What  a  man  believes  is  between  his  own  soul 
and  the  powers  above."  In  all  this  there  was  no  flippancy 
but  the  free  and  reverent  attitude  of  a  seeker  for  light  and 
truth.  He  said  that  while  there  was  little  religious  persecu- 
tion in  Japan  he  wanted  the  government  to  guarantee  and 
protect  the  equal  rights  of  all  and  give  privileges  to  none. 
We  parted  in  friendly  spirit,  and  I  hold  in  high  esteem  and 
respect  that  gifted  man,  catholic  in  the  large  sense,  Jugoi 
Arinori  Mori. 

A    HINDOO    BOOK — PEARY   CHAXD    MITTRA. 

A  pamphlet  of  200  pages  printed  in  Calcutta — "  Spiritual 
Stray  Leaves,  '  by  Peary  Chand  Mittra, — is  before  me.  Its 
author  was  a  Hindoo  merchant  in  Bombay,  the  details  of 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  207 

whose  large  business  were  managed  by  his  sons,  that  his 
own  time  might  be  mainly  devoted  to  thought  and  study 
on  religious  subjects.  He  passed  away  a  few  years  ago 
at  the  age  of  seventy,  and  this  book  was  published  in 
1879.  It  is  of  special  value  as  the  effort  of  a  Hindoo  to 
interpret  the  old  faith  of  his  native  land  and  give  the  real 
significance  of  usages  and  opinions  with  which  he  was 
familiar.  His  own  views  give  an  interesting  and  sug- 
gestive idea  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  culture  of  an 
accomplished  modern  Hindoo,  a  free  and  reverent 
thinker. 

He  is  versed  in  ancient  lore,  and  familiar  with  modern 
thought  and  literature,  as  his  apt  quotations  from  Euro- 
pean and  American  religious  and  scientific  works  show. 

The  Psychology  of  the  Aryas  and  Buddhists,  God  in 
the  Soul,  The  Spirit-land,  Soul-Revelations  in  India, 
Ancient  Culture  of  Hindoo  Women,  and  like  topics,  are 
treated.  Going  back  to  Vedic  days  he  finds  no  caste,  no 
transmigration  of  souls,  but  a  high  theism — an  ethical 
and  spiritual  conception  of  a  supreme  and  infinite  Intelli- 
gence. The  Upanishad  says  :  "Adore  as  Brahma  the 
spirit  who  abides  in  the  soul.  .  .  .  The  thoughtful,  know- 
ing what  is  eternal,  do  not  pray  for  anything  mundane," 
Says  Peary  Chand  Mittra  :  "The  constant  devotion  of 
Arya  thought  to  Deity  promoted  spiritual  culture  ;  and 
the  soul  when  touched  presented  to  many  a  Rishi  psy- 
chological revelations,  which  not  only  prevented  the 
growth  of  materialism  and  sensualism,  but  opened  a  vast 
field  of  idealism  and  spiritualism.  .  .  .  The  most  important 
teaching  of  the  Aryas  is  that  God  is  in  the  soul,  and  that 
the  soul  is  the  reflex  of  God.  Its  progression  is  gradual 
but  endless.  An  old  text  says:  "Those  who  wish  to 
know  God  see  Him  in  their  souls  by  governing  the 
external  and  internal  organs  of  sense  by  spiritual  medi- 
tation, long  suffering  and  internal  tranquillity. 

The  Aryas   aimed  at  the  splendor  of  the  soul — thus 


2oS  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

io-noring  empiricism  and  agnosticism,  and  anticipating 
the  teachings  of  the  Bible — 'The  Kingdotn  of  God  is 
within  you. 

The  Buddhist  nirvana  he  holds  not  to  be  extinction  or 
absorption,  but  a  spiritual  state,  an  illuminatioii  higher 
than  that  of  the  senses — and  this  is  held  as  the  original 
meaning  of  the  word  nirvana. 

On  the  subject  of  immortality  we  are  told  :  "  The  con- 
viction of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  was  most  vivid  (in 
Vedic  days).  The  recognition  of  the  intervention  of 
disembodied  spirits  and  the  offering  of  funeral  cakes  to 
ihe  pitris  presuppose  the  existence  of  the  spirit  land. 

"In  the  Rig  Veda  the  mission  of  disembodied  spirits 
'  is  to  protect  the  good,  to  attend  the  gods,  and  to  be  like 
them.  ...  On  the  paths  of  the  fathers  are  eight  and  eighty 
thousand  patriarchal  men  (spirits)  who  turn  back  to  sow 
righteousness  and  succour  it.'  Spirits  were  thought  to 
hold  communion  with  mortals,  to  spiritualize  them  grad- 
ually and  thus  extend  the  kingdom  of  God." 

In  the  Mahabharata,  Veyas,  a  Saint,  by  force  of  his 
spiritual  power,  gave  to  a  Hindoo  prince,  born  blind, 
i7iner  vision.  At  night,  on  the  sacred  banks  of  the 
Ganges,  the  spirits  descended  to  him.  His  wife,  Gand- 
hari,  seeing  her  sons,  was  thrilled  with  joy.  The  sinless 
spirits,  free  from  pride,  spoke  with  mortals — wives, 
mothers,  fathers,  and  friends.  No  grief  nor  fear.  Happily 
passed  the  night,  and  at  dawn  the  celestial  visitors 
ascended. 

Of  his  own  experience,  our  author  says  :  "  Anj'-  person 
really  anxious  to  be  spiritual  is  assisted  by  spirit  friends, 
a  fact  I  know  from  personal  experience.  The  visits  of 
spirits  do  not  solely  end  in  the  external  manifestations 
which  they  make  to  produce  a  conviction  of  their  exist- 
ence. Such  manifestations  are  the  first  stage  of  spiritual 
experience.  The  real  work  is  to  spiritualize  those  qual- 
ified to  receive  their  aid,  and  the  providence  of  God  is 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS,  209 

clearly  appreciated  as  we  rise  to  a  higher  state.  When 
divine  effulgence  is  in  the  soul,  creeds  appear  in  their 
true  colors.  They  are  the  outcome  of  some  state  of  the 
sentient  soul  or  mind,  but  not  of  the  soul  real  or  tranquil, 
which  transcends  all  creeds.  Hence  we  should  make 
large  allowance  for  those  who  propagate  or  follow  creeds  ; 
they  do  not  possess  the  splendor  within  ;  they  mistake 
darkness  for  light,  or  shadow  for  substance." 

The  limit  of  space  forbids  farther  quotations,  but  these 
give  a  glimpse  of  the  fine  insight,  the  spiritual  culture,  the 
research  and  range  of  knowledge  and  the  illuminated 
wisdom  of  Peary  Chand  Mittra. 

He  was  a  Unitarian  in  his  clear  thought  of  the  Divine 
unity.  No  educated  man  among  the  Hindoos  has  avowed 
any  faith  in  the  evangelical  Trinitarian  doctrine.  With 
the  Brahmo  Somaj  movement  he  was  familiar  and  largely 
in  unity.  He  was  a  spiritualist  in  the  modern  sense  of 
the  word,  his  personal  experience  for  twenty  years  made 
spirit-presence  familiar,  and  he  was  fully  versed  in  Ameri- 
can Spiritualism. 

Foreign  interpreters  of  Hinduism  have  done  us  great 
service,  but  there  is  signal  value  in  this  native  interpre- 
tation of  the  old  faiths  by  one  so  gifted  and  discerning. 
His  affirmations  are  never  dogmatic,  but  always  clear 
and  high.  In  these  days  of  agnostic  doubt  we  can  turn 
to  this  oriental  thinker  for  light  and  warmth  touching  the 
truths  of  the  soul. 

Whenever  one  is  deeply  absorbed  in  any  line  of  thought 
or  research,  all  truths  and  facts,  all  ideas  and  principles 
in  that  line,  seem  to  come  to  him  like  servants  obedient 
to  his  call, — a  strange  rapport  reaches  over  the  world, 
through  the  ages,  and  beyond  the  stars,  by  which  what 
he  needs  and  calls  for  comes,  ready  to  serve  that  part  of 
his  nature  open  to  its  service. 

How^  wonderful  is  Darwin's  mastery  of  the  facts  bearing 
on  Evolution  !    Won  by  patient  study  ?    Yes  ;    but    won 

14 


2IO  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

because  his  mind  instinctively  reached  out  into  unknown 
paths,  and  met  the  truths  he  sought  coming  to  him  like 
helping  friends.  Yet  his  analytical  mood  and  method, 
while  it  gave  him  mastery  of  physical  facts,  did  not  open 
his  soul  to  interior  ideas,  and  so  he  saw  the  external, — 
saw  matter  and  force  and  law,  not  mind  and  design. 

In  the  near  future,  with  our  minds  open  to  the  inner  life 
of  things,  we  shall  be  receptive  of  more  light,  and  shall 
reach  still  greater  ends.  I  have  heard  with  pleasure  two 
series  of  lectures  on  Oriental  Religions  by  accomplished 
scholars,  liberal  clergymen,  both  of  whom  passed  with 
slighting  haste  the  beautiful  stories  of  angel  help  in  Brah- 
minic  and  Buddhist  days,  seeing  no  significance  in  them. 
"Having  eyes  they  see  not,"  must  we  say.?  Chand 
Mittra  had  anointed  eyes,  and  saw  far  more  in  like 
incidents  which  he  relates. 

Renan  and  his  like  would  reject  all  "  improbable  and 
impossible"  Bible  narrations,  and  interpret  this  so  as  to 
sweep  aside  "the  gifts  of  healing,"  the  angel  visitants 
and  the  visions  of  seers  and  prophets  which  blind  science 
cannot  understand.  This  interpretation  will  go  to  the 
moles  and  bats,  and  a  new  glory  will  shine  around  these 
significant  narrations.  So  will  every  page  of  history  be 
read  in  a  new  light. 

PRESIDENT  GRANT  AND  SOJOURNER  TRUTH. 

I  knew  Sojourner  Truth  more  than  forty  years  ago  in 
New  England.  She  was  then  70  years  old,  but  seemed 
hardly  beyond  the  prime  and  glory  of  her  womanhood. 
In  those  days  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  described  her  as 
"the  Lybian  Sibyl,"  gifted  with  prophetic  insight,  and 
tall  and  erect  like  a  strong  and  graceful  African  palm  tree. 
She  would  do  more  housework  of  the  heaviest  kind  than 
two  ordinary  women,  and  yet  be  one  of  the  best  watchers 
by  a  sick-bed  at  night.  A  sick  man  she  lifted  to  the  best 
place  on  his  bed  as  easily  and  tenderly  as  a  mother  would 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  211 

lift  her  baby,  and  the  touch  of  her  hand  smoothing  the  pillow 
and  stroking  the  fevered  brow  was  health  and  quiet,  while 
her  word,  "There,  honey,  you's  easiernow,"  had  a  strange 
power  to  ease  and  calm. 

Untrained  in  grammar  or  rhetoric,  never  able  to  read  or 
write,  there  was  a  quaint  disregard  for  set  rules  of  speech 
in  her  public  and  private  discourse,  but  no  fine  rhetori- 
cian could  make  his  meaning  plainer  and  few  could  equal 
her  in  power  of  expression  or  exuberance  of  imagery. 
A  few  years  after  the  close  ot  the  civil  war  I  went  with  her 
to  the  Senate  reception-room  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington. 
She  stood  beneath  the  centre  of  its  arched  ceiling-  and  the 
deep  look  of  her  wonderful  eyes  seemed  to  take  in  the 
beauty  of  pictured  forms  and  glowing  colors  on  its  walls, 
as  she  said  :  "  Dis  is  like  the  pictured  chambers  of  de 
New  Jerusalem  dat  dey  read  about  in  de  Book. "  Then  she 
looked  out  of  the  window  and  saw  the  poor  huts  of  the  freed 
people  not  far  away,  and  said  in  tender  tones  :  "  But  they 
don't  have  (/^;«  over  there."  A  great  gospel  of  divinity 
and  of  tender  humanity  seemed  spoken  in  two  brief  sen- 
tences. 

It  was  my  fortune  to  meet  General  Grant  a  few  times 
before  and  after  he  became  president. 

The  story  of  an  interview  between  these  two  remark- 
able persons  will  help  to  a  higher  sense  of  their  merits. 

In  the  winter  of  1 87 1-2  I  spent  some  time  in  Washington, 
and  about  midwinter  learned  that  Sojourner  Truth  was  in 
the  city.  Had  I  not  known  her  ways  this  would  have 
been  a  surprise,  for  the  long  winter's  journey  from  her 
home  at  Battle  Creek,  in  the  centre  of  Michigan,  was  a 
serious  undertaking  for  a  woman  near  her  hundredth  birth- 
day. But  I  knew  that  she  always  went  "as  the  Good 
Spirit  told  her,"  and  that  some  strong  feeling  of  duty  to 
be  done  led  her  to  the  capital  city.  Her  way  opened  not 
long  after  for  some  good  service  among  the  freedmen  at 
the  hospitals.     I  soon  went  to  see  her,  and  she  said  with 


212  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

great  earnestness:  "I  believe  de  good  Lord  sent  you, 
for  you  are  de  very  one  I  wanted  to  see."  Asking  what 
was  specially  wanted,  she  said  :  "  I  want  to  see  the 
President,  and  you  can  get  me  there. ''  I  told  her  that  was 
easier  said  than  done,  but  I  would  try,  and  the  next  day 
wrote  a  note  to  him,  saying  she  wished  to  see  him  at 
some  fit  time,  took  it  to  the  White  House,  sent  it  in  to  the 
business  office,  and  a  verbal  message  soon  come  back 
that  any  ftiorning  would  suit. 

In  a  few  days  Sojourner,  with  two  ladies,  a  venerable 
friend  of  Quaker  birth  and  myself,  went  to  meet  the 
appointment,  and  I  sent  iii  a  card,  "Sojourner  Truth  and 
friends,"  which  brought  back  in  a  half  hour  a  messenger 
to  escort  us  to  President  Grant's  office.  He  sat  at  the  end 
of  a  long  table  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  with  documents 
piled  before  him,  and  just  closing  an  interview  with  other 
persons.  I  stepped  forward  to  introduce  the  party  and 
to  bring  Sojourner  beside  the  table.  She  had  met  Pres- 
ident Lincoln,  and  he,  a  born  Kentuckian,  could  call  her 
"Aunty"  in  the  old  familiar  way,  while  Grant,  though 
kindly,  was  reticent,  and  all  was  not  quite  easy  at  first. 
But  a  happy  thought  came  to  her.  Not  long  before  the 
President  had  signed  some  bill  of  new  guarantees  of  justice 
to  the  colored  people.  She  spoke  of  this  with  gratitude  ; 
the  thin  ice  was  broken,  and  words  came  freely  from 
both,  for  he  was  an  easy  and  fluent  talker,  but  had  the 
wisdom  of  silence  until  the  fit  time  came  to  speak. 

Standing  there,  tall  and  erect,  stirred  in  soul  by  the 
occasion,  her  wonderful  eyes  glowed  as  she  thanked 
him  for  his  good  deeds,  and  gave  wise  counsel  in  her 
own  clear  and  quaint  way. 

Her  words  were  full  of  deep  power  and  tenderness,  and 
he  listened  with  great  interest  and  respect,  and  told  her 
that  he  "  hoped  always  to  be  just  to  all,  and  especially 
to  see  that  the  poor  and  defenceless  were  fairly  treated." 
His  manner  told  how  much  his  heart  was  touched,  and 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  213 

his  softened  tones  showed  how  "the  bravest  are  the  ten- 
derest."  She  told  him  that  his  tasks  and  trials  were 
appreciated,  and  that  much  faith  was  placed  in  his  up- 
right doing  of  duty  to  the  oppressed. 

Only  great  souls  can  comprehend  true  greatness,  and 
these  two  understood  each  other.  Nothing  in  the  illustri- 
ous career  of  General  Grant  gave  me  a  fuller  sense  of  his 
lartreness  of  heart  and  mind  than  his  unpretending  sim- 
plicity  in  this  interview,  while  the  fine  and  simple  dig- 
nity of  Sojourner  Truth  also  gave  me  a  fuller  sense  of 
her  large  womanhood.  She  said  to  him  :  "I have  a  little 
book  here  that  I  call  my  book  of  life.  A  good  many 
names  are  in  it,  and  I  have  kept  a  place  on  the  same 
page  with  Lincoln's  for  you.  to  write  your  name."  He 
replied  :  "  I  am  glad  to  put  it  there,"  and  wrote  his  auto- 
graph in  her  precious  little  book.  She  then  said  :  "  It  will 
do  me  good  for  you  to  have  my  photograph,"  and  with 
evident  pleasure  he  thanked  her  and  selected  one  from 
several  laid  on  the  table. 

The  conversation  had  lasted  beyond  the  usual  time, 
others  were  waiting  their  turn,  and  the  proper  time  came 
to  leave.  The  President  rose  from  his  chair  and  gave 
Sojourner  his  hand  with  a  parting  word  of  good  will. 
This  mutual  respect  between  the  President  of  a  great 
republic  and  a  woman  born  a  slave  and  representing  an 
oppressed  people  was  admirable  and  inspiring. 

JOHN    BROWN, 

"  For,  whether  on  the  scaffold  high, 
Or  in  the  battle's  van. 
The  fittest  place  for  man  to  die 
Is  where  he  dies  for  man." 

The  story  of  the  interview  between  President  Grant  and 
Sojourner  Truth  calls  to  mind  some  earlier  experiences  at 
the  opening  of  the  great  contest  which  overthrew  chattel 
slavery.     The  year  before  the  civil  war  a  series  of  mobs 


214  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS, 

swept  along-  from  Albany  to  Michigan, — the  last  in  Ann 
Arbor,  where  I  was  speaking  for  an  Independent  Society, 
out  of  which  has  since  grown  the  Unitarian  Society  in  that 
University  town.  An  Anti-Slavery  Meeting  was  called  in 
our  Quaker  meeting-house,  to  be  addressed  mainly  by 
Parker  Pillsbury  and  Mrs.  Josephine  S.  Griffing.  In  those 
days  the  demon  of  slavery  writhed  as  though  foreseeing 
it  was  soon  to  be  cast  out.  Wrath  rose  high,  especially 
among  such  University  students  as  were  pro-slavery,  and 
who  incited  and  led  the  mob.  At  last,  in  the  evening, 
came  the  crisis — shouts  and  threats,  a  fight  or  two  in 
the  surging  crowd,  students  prominent  in  the  riot,  win- 
dows and  benches  broken,  stove-pipes  down,  and  the 
occupants  of  the  platform  making  their  exit  from  the 
windows,  as  the  crowd  made  any  other  way  impossible. 

The  next  day  a  delegation  of  students  came  with  an 
offer  to  march  armed,  a  hundred  strong,  to  the  house.  I 
said  :   "Come  without  arms,"  and  they  did  right  bravely. 

We  repaired  the  damages  in  part,  and  had  a  grand  and 
quiet  meeting,  the  searching  words  of  Pillsbury  gladly 
heard,  the  good  town  aroused  and  indignant,  the  better 
nature  of  some  of  the  riotous  students  awakened,  their 
leader  soon  after  becoming  a  brave  ofhcer  in  the  Union 
army,  his  soul  in  the  great  contest,  and  he,  "in  the 
battle's  van,"  dying  "for  man." 

The  day  on  which  John  Brown  was  to  "die  for  man" 
on  a  Virginia  scaffold  came  some  months  before  this 
rnob.  I  waited  until  the  afternoon  of  the  preceding  day, 
hoping  some  steps  might  be  taken  for  a  public  meeting 
which  had  been  talked  of,  and  then  had  handbills  scat- 
tered about  the  town,  with  the  heroic  verse  at  the  head  of 
this  article  for  a  motto,  advertising  an  afternoon  meeting 
in  the  Court  House,  to  be  addressed  by  myself  and  others 
— hoping  others  might  take  part.  Going  to  the  place  at 
the  hour  named  I  found  the  spacious  hall  packed,  and 
crowds  outside  unable  to  find  room.     The  best  people  of 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  215 

the  town  were  there,  best  in  character  as  well  as  eminent 
in  position  and  influence.  The  feeling-  was  deep  and 
earnest — a  sense  that  a  tempest  must  soon  burst  over 
the  wide  land,  a  readiness  to  meet  its  wrath.  I  spoke  an 
hour  and  a  half,  and  invited  others  to  speak,  but  none 
did,  although  several  were  called  for  by  the  audience. 
There  was  no  applause,  the  feeling  was  too  deep,  but 
waves  of  the  silent  and  intense  emotion  which  had  filled 
the  very  air  for  days  seemed  to  sweep  from  heart  to 
heart. 

In  those  days  we  had  tried  to  show  that  while  labor  was 
enslaved  at  one  end  of  the  land,  it  could  not  be  justly 
honored  in  the  other,  and  therefore  the  workingman 
should  be  an  abolitionist. 

It  is  told  of  Stephen  S.  Foster,  that  he  once  made  that 
argument  to  a  body  of  laborers  who  stood,  clubs  in  hand, 
in  the  aisle  of  a  New  England  church,  where  they  went 
to  mob  him,  so  effectively  that  they  listened  quietly  and 
heartily  approved  his  views. 

Slavery  has  gone  and  labor  has  been  uplifted.  A  rise  of 
twenty  per  cent,  in  wages  from  i860  to  1880,  with  no  cor- 
responding' rise  in  the  cost  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  is  a 
phenomenon  unknown  before  in  the  world,  and  our  enor- 
mous increase  in  wealth  of  developed  natural  resources, 
and  in  products  of  farm  and  factory,  during  the  same  time, 
was  never  before  equalled  in  any  land.  This  great  and 
phenomenal  uplifting  of  labor  and  increase  of  wealth, 
closely  followed  our  flinging  off  the  incubus  of  slavery, 
and  showed  the  upward  step  and  quickening  life  of 
freedom.  We  have  labor  unions  and  other  like  orean- 
izations,  impossible  in  the  days  of  slavery  when  no 
money  was  saved  to  pay  the  costs  of  such  great  move- 
ments. We  have  a  new  sense  of  stewardship  among  the 
rich, — larger  gifts  for  libraries  and  like  efforts  for  the 
people's  good  by  men  like  Andrew  Carnegie  and  Leland 
Stanford  of  California. 


2l6  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS, 

Not  that  we  are  by  any  means  perfect  ;  but  under 
freedom  fraternity  gains,  as  aristocracy  grew  proud,  and 
despised  labor  under  slavery. 

The  upward  path  of  the  people  is  easier  than  was  pos- 
sible when  men  and  women  were  sold  with  cattle  and 
horses  on  the  auction  block,  and  scourged  and  hunted 
with  bloodhounds. 

MRS.    SYBIL  LAWRENCE A  LIGHT-BRINGER. 

These  reminiscences  of  Ann  Arbor  call  to  mind  a  woman 
whose  presence  was  light  and  peace,  whose  kindness 
never  failed,  and  whose  moral  courage  was  high  and 
constant,  yet  tempered  by  a  sweet  spirit  that  conquered 
all  prejudice.  When  a  regiment  of  soldiers  on  their  way 
to  southern  battlefields,  needed  food  as  they  marched 
through  the  town,  Mrs.  Lawrence  led  a  company  of 
women  into  the  street  and  stood  with  them  by  the  way- 
side until  every  soldier  was  refreshed  ;  and  if  the  stricken 
family  of  a  fallen  soldier  ever  needed  help  and  solace, 
she  was  ready  with  effective  aid  and  blessed  words. 

In  her  home,  with  family  and  friends,  she  was  the 
centre  of  noble  and  gentle  influence,  the  industrious 
worker  and  care-taker  in  homely  household  tasks. 

She  would  walk  serenely  to  the  plain  Quaker  meeting 
house,  where  our  Independent  Society  met  each  Sunday, 
and  which  was  thought  the  hot-bed  of  all  heresies. 

Her  presence  graced  the  unpopular  anti-slavery  meet- 
ings, and  she  stood  steadfast  for  woman's  suffrage,  and  for 
co-education  in  the  University,  then  warmly  discussed  and 
opposed  by  conservatives ;  yet  those  in  the  orthodox 
churches  loved  and  reverenced  her  as  a  saint,  and  she  was 
sought  for  and  welcomed  at  fine  social  gatherings  of  the 
fashionable  sort.  All  hearts  were  won  by  her  grateful 
recognition  of  the  good  which  she  found  in  all,  and  by  a 
graciousness  of  manner  void  of  all  pride  and  frankly 
sincere,  which  gave  a  line  charm  to  a  beautiful  and  com- 
manding person. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  217 

She  was  the  prophetess  of  coming  womanhood, — 
serenely  fearless  and  self-reHant,  ready  for  all  kindly  and 
useful  acts,  wise  and  tender  and  true.  Surely  she  had 
place  among  the  world's  light-bringers. 

HELPFUL    INFLUENCES GREAT    AWAKENINGS. 

Every  life  has  its  epochs  and  eras,  all  unknown  to  the 
world  but  all  important  to  the  individual. 

"My  mind  to  me  a  kingdom  is,"  sang  the  poet,  and 
these  marked  and  decisive  hours  shape  the  destiny  of  that 
kingdom. 

So  far  as  our  outer  life  is  concerned  we  realize  that : 

"  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men 
Which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune." 

Sometimes  that  realization  comes  by  catching  the  flood- 
tide,  sometimes  by  being  stranded  in  the  ebb,  and  some- 
times we  can  look  back  and  see  how  the  currents,  slightly 
diverged  at  first,  set  far  apart. 

Once,  in  my  early  manhood,  a  correspondence  led  me 
very  near  to  going  South  as  tutor  in  a  planter's  family. 
Had  I  gone  my  career  might  have  been  like  that  of  others 
from  New  England, — a  family  tutor,  a  favorite  in  society, 
accepting  slavery  as  a  matter  with  which  fanatics  must 
not  interfere,  and  Irnally  the  husband  of  some  slave- 
owner's fair  daughter. 

Settled  in  life,  tangled  in  the  meshes  of  custom,  with  the 
politicians  guarding  "  the  peculiar  institution,"  and  the 
clergy  preaching  "  cursed  be  Canaan,"  and  saying  with 
Rev.  W.  S.  Plummer,  D.D. :  "If  the  abolitionists  will  set 
the  country  in  a  blaze  it  is  but  fair  that  they  should  have 
the  first  warming  at  the  fire,"  I  might  have  been  swept 
along,  trying  to  believe  that  I  believed  all  this,  looking  up 
to  Calhoun  and  not  to  Garrison,  and  fighting  for  the  stars 
and  bars.  Some  small  thing,  like  a  sunken  stick  or  a 
stone  in  a  little  brook,  turned  the  tide,  and  the  current  has 
set  far  in  another  direction. 


2i8  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

So,  too  often,  men  drift,  but  a  strong  man  stands  and 
buffets  and  turns  the  tide — as  a  great  rock  in  river  or  sea 
makes  the  waters  sweep  far  over  the  shore  and  wash 
away  the  driftwood  that  the  land  may  be  fair  and  fruitful. 

To  the  inner  life  of  all  who  really  live,  come  influences 
that  give  cast  and  hue  to  thought,  and  mould  character  ; 
and  a  few  great  awakening  hours,  radiant  with  "the  light 
that  never  was  on  land  or  sea." 

In  my  youth  I  had  four  friends,  near  and  dear,  four 
young  women,  somewhat  older  than  myself.  They  were 
alike  in  nobility  of  character,  unlike  in  their  varied  ex- 
cellenies.  Good  sense  and  delicate  humor,  fine  wisdom 
and  ready  wit,  made  the  hours  I  spent  with  them  valuable 
as  well  as  delightful.  They  were  country  girls,  not 
unused  to  household  tasks  in  the  kitchen,  and  never 
shirking  their  share  of  needed  work,  but  duty  and  beauty 
were  close  allied  in  their  lives.  They  read  and  thought 
and  talked  well,  and  could  find  some  other  expression 
besides  "so  lovely"  for  what  they  admired.  They  spoke 
"pure  English  undefiled  "'  by  any  such  slang  or  cant  as 
one  hears,  even  in  our  "best  society,"  and  talked  with 
an  ease  graceful  because  natural.  Familiar  as  we  were, 
I  always  looked  up  to  them  as  to  stars  in  the  pure  sky. 
For  years  we  have  not  met.  I  know  not  that  they  are 
all  on  earth,  but  I  know  that  their  influence  greatly  helped 
me. 

That  awakening  hour,  more  than  forty  years  ago,  when 
I  sat  alone  in  a  quiet  chamber  and  read  the  last  page  of 
"Barclay's  Apology  for  the  people  called  Quakers"  is 
remembered  as  though  it  were  but  yesterday. 

It  was  borne  in  upon  me  then,  as  never  before,  that 
"  the  word  of  God  within  "  is  above  all  creeds  or  books, 
and  obedience  to  "the  inward  witness"  more  than  all 
forms  or  ceremonies,  and  that  : 

The  outward  symbols  disappear 
From  him  whose  inward  sight  is  clear. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  219 

The  first  hearing  of  Theodore  Parker  in  the  Boston 
Melodeon  stands  clear  as  a  wave  of  light  to-day.  A  true 
man  with  a  living  soul,  as  devoutly  reverent  as  he  was 
deeply  in  earnest,  and  with  his  whole  heart  in  every  word, 
stirred  the  souls  of  his  hearers.  They  felt  that  reason  and 
conscience  and  intuition  must  be  free,  that  the  mind  and 
soul  of  man  must  judge  all  books  and  creeds.  It  was  a 
Pentecostal  season.  Ever  since  the  great  truths  of  the 
Bible  have  had  more  weight  and  higher  significance  to 
me  than  before,  for  its  errors  do  not  dim  their  light  or 
weaken  their  power.  That  hour  in  the  Melodeon  broke 
the  last  fetters. 

An  awakening  day  also  was  that  in  Boston  when  I  first 
heard  Garrison  and  Phillips,  Burleigh,  Abby  Kelley  and 
others,  at  a  great  anti-slavery  meeting. 

It  came  like  an  electric  thrill  to  a  paralytic,  the  be- 
numbed heart  and  mind  were  stirred  to  feeling  and  life 
by  words  vivid  as  the  lightning's  flash,  strong  as  the  rat- 
tline  thunder,  and  then  soft  and  tender  as  the  breath  of 
an  ^olian  harp.  I  awoke  to  fit  realization  of  the  horrors 
of  chattel  slavery,  the  supineness  and  guilt  of  its  sup- 
porters in  church  and  State  all  over  the  land,  the  danger  of 
its  continuance  and  the  pressing  duty  of  its  abolition. 

Dauntless  courage,  flaming  eloquence,  startling  plain- 
ness of  warning  and  rebuke,  devotedness  to  the  cause  of 
the  poor  and  friendless,  the  tide  of  strong  and  free 
thought,  sweeping  away  all  barriers  of  sect  and  party, 
holding  man  as  more  than  constitutions,  and  righteous 
deed  above  all  written  creed,  moved  and  possessed  me  as 
by  some  healthful  enchantment,  awakened  high  enthu- 
siasm, and  changed  the  current  of  my  thought  and 
life. 

Years  later  the  hearing  of  that  tiny  rap  at  the  house  of 
Isaac  Post  in  Rochester  lighted  up  my  soul  with  a  gleam 
of  supernal  glory.  It  was  so  little  and  yet  promised  so 
much,  and  years  have  well  fulfilled  that  promise.     It  was 


2  20  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

like  the  click  of  a  key  opening  the  door  into  a  palace  fair 
and  grand  beyond  imagination,  where  dwelt  the  bright 
immortals.  That  glimpse  seemed  too  bright  to  be  real, 
was  it  not  illusive?  Reason  and  experience  must  test 
■^.at  and  it  stood  the  test.  Life  "over  there  "  is  more  real 
than  here.  Gleams  of  celestial  radiance  light  the  path- 
way of  the  spirit  on  earth.  Spirit  communion  is  normal 
to  the  open  soul.     The  world  will  be  the  better  for  it. 

Those  illuminated  hours  were  epochs,  opening  new 
eras  in  my  life.  Surely  they  were  helpers  and  light- 
bringers.  For  the  coming  of  such  hours  we  must  mingle 
with  our  fellows,  bear  our  share  of  the  world's  burthens 
and  do  our  share  of  its  work. 

A  strange  and  sad  story,  which  came  across  the  ocean 
fifty  years  ago,  was  that  of  Casper  Hauser, — a  young 
man  found  in  a  European  dungeon,  where  he  had  been 
immured  from  childhood  for  some  mysterious  political 
reason  ;  a  creature  under  a  spell,  to  whom  no  awakening 
had  ever  come  ;  a  man  in  stature  but  a  babe  in  helpless- 
ness, his  soul  and  senses  strangers  in  a  realm  they  were 
made  to  act  and  serve,  and  live  and  grow  in.  Better  the 
rude  savage,  with  the  promise  and  potency  for  better 
things  and  the  world  open  before  him,  than  such  a  dead- 
and-alive  victim  in  a  prison.  Dungeons  of  unnatural 
custom  and  creed  make  us  Casper  Hausers.  Give  us  God's 
freedom,  and  a  wide  world  to  grow  in,  opening  to  better 
things. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OP  SEVENTY  YEARS  221 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SPIRITUALISM — NATURAL    RELIGION. 

•'  Then  shall  come  the  Eden-days, 

Guardian  watch  from  seraph-eyes, 
Angels  on  the  slanting  rays, 

Voices  from  the  opening  skies." 

Emerson. 

To  have  seen  the  rise,  to  have  taken  part  in  the  prog- 
ress, to  have  witnessed  the  victory  of  the  anti-slavery 
movement  was  a  great  privilege.  Stirred  by  a  noble 
enthusiasm  in  that  moral  warfare,  Whittier  said  to  Gar- 
rison : 

"  My  soul  leaps  up  to  answer  thine. 
And  echo  back  thy  words, 
As  leaps  the  warrior's  at  the  shine 
And  flash  of  kindred  swords." 

Glorious  and  inspiring  are  the  memories  of  those  days, 
and  of  kindred  reforms. 

Another  great  privilege  has  been  mine  : — to  have  wit- 
nessed the  rise,  to  have  taken  part  in  the  progress,  and  to 
see  the  good  results  of  modern  Spiritualism. 

These  great  movements  are  alike  in  their  uplifting  in- 
fluence, and  one  opened  the  way  for  the  other.  The  first 
was  a  trumpet-blast,  stirring  heart  and  soul  to  help  the 
helpless  and  to  overthrow  a  giant  wrong. 

The  last  is  a  great  wave  of  spiritual  light,  opening  the 
high  heavens  to  our  sight,  bringing  us  near  to  our 
ascended  friends,  awakening  the  life  within,  opening 
the  way  for  self-knowledge  and  self-reverence,  for  nat- 
ural religious  growth,  and  wise  practical  reforms. 


22  2  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

All  superstitious  dread  of  ghosts  is  banished,  all  super- 
natural miracles  are  ended,  and  all  facts  come  under  the 
rei^'-n  of  law.  No  being  in  heaven  or  earth  can  so 
bear  the  burden  of  our  sins  as  to  atone  for  us  and  lessen 
our  responsibility,  but  we  must  woric  out  our  own  salva- 
tion, helped  to  help  ourselves  by  good  men  and  angels. 
The  horizon  broadens,  and  is  filled  with  golden  light  and 
warmth.  We  need  not  prepare  to  die,  for  there  is  no 
death,  but  can  prepare  to  live. 

It  is  an  immense  influence,  deep  and  M-ide-spread, 
making  the  future  life  near  and  real.  Its  imperfections 
are  inevitable  in  the  study  and  thought  of  a  matter  so 
great  and  so  new  to  us.  Its  end  will  be  that  man  will 
learn  to  walk  in  the  pathway  of  the  spirit,  and  so  gain  in 
open  and  illuminated  vision,  in  harmony  of  culture  and 
development,  and  in  fitness  for  a  higher  and  larger  life  on 
earth,  and  a  brighter  pathway  to  the  skies. 

The  rational  study  of  Spiritualism  includes  a  study  of 
the  inner  life  of  man.  No  scientist  or  religious  truth- 
seeker  can  be  well  prepared  for  hii:  work  without  this  re- 
search and  thought.  Neglecting  or  slighting  them  the 
ablest  and  best  wander  in  a  blinding  haze,  and  "  having 
eyes  see  not."  The  coming  religion  demands  this  study 
and  is  to  rest  on  this  spiritual  basis,  which  alone  endures. 
Those  who  neglect  it  will  drift  out  of  sight  like  floodwood. 

Supernal  intelligences  guide  it,  human  imperfections 
mar  it,  but  it  has  helped  many  weary  and  waiting  souls, 
and  given  light  and  strength  to  many  noble  lives.  Its 
work  has  only  begun,  but  it  is  alread}''  world-wide. 

The  early  Christians  were  called  atheists.  Forty  years 
ago  the  abolitionists  were  misunderstood  and  misused, 
their  work  only  "a  rub-a-dub  agitation  in  country  school- 
houses,"  as  the  great  Daniel  Webster  said.  The  few  who 
still  live  on  earth  are  now  justly  appreciated.  In  due 
time  the  mists  will  clear  away  and  the  faithful  advocates 
of  Spiritualism  will  win  just  esteem. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  223 

The  preoccupied  and  the  thoughtless,  who  fail  to  see 
the  light  will  wait  until  they  cannot  avoid  it.  Pharisees 
and  blind  bigots  seem  strong  to-day,  but  will  be  weak 

to-morrow. 

The  great  German  philosopher,  Immanuel  Kant,  m- 
tuitively  foresaw  spirit  communion.     A  century  ago  he 

said : 

"There  will  come  a  day  when  it  will  be  demonstrated 
that  the  human  soul  throughout  its  terrestrial  existence 
lives  in  a  communion,  actual  and  indissoluble,  with  the 
immaterial  natures  of  the  world  of  spirits  ;  that  this  world 
acts  upon  our  own,  through  influences  and  impressions,  of 
which  man  has  no  consciousness  to-day,  but  which  he 
will  recognize  at  some  future  time."  His  prophecy  is 
being  fulfilled. 

The   spiritual    movement,    with    its   facts,    awakening 
thought,  and  quickening  intuition,  its  science  and  philos- 
ophy, its  religious  element,  sweeter  and  nobler  than  the 
supernaturalism    of  the  sects,   is   a  proof  and   result  of 
the  spiritual  development  of  man.     Its  full   power  and 
meaning  we  fail  to  see.     Under  its  sway,  what  breadth  to 
the    idea    of  man's  being  and   destiny  !      Its    seers  and 
teachers  tell  us  that  far  back,  when  the  first  life  stirred  on 
this  planet,  the  forces  of  nature  worked  in  one  direction, 
toward  the  evolution   of  man,  not  merely  as  a  physical 
being,  but  as  an  heir  of  immortality.     This  carries  us  into 
an  illimitable  future,  not  of  dread  despair  or  the  monotony 
of  eternal  and  changeless  adoration,  but  of  celestial  use- 
fulness, and  growth   in  wisdom  and  harmony.     Of  that 
future  we  get  such  glimpses  that  we  know  our  friends  still 
live,  and  know  us  and  love  us,  and  can  sometimes  even 

come  to  us. 

Since  1852  I  have  been  a  believer  in  manifestations  of 
spirit-presence  tangible  to  the  senses  and  verifying  the 
soul's  intuitive  faith.  I  not  only  believe,  but  /  hnoiv. 
All  this  was  contrary  to  my  wish  or  expectation  at  the  be- 


2  24  UPWARD  S TEPS  OF  SE  VENTY  YEARS. 

ginning.  I  have  been  compelled  to  yield  to  resistless 
proofs,  or  to  be  untrue  to  my  own  convictions  and  go 
through  my  earthly  life  a  craven  soul  with  sealed  lips. 
During  forty  years  I  have  attended  hundreds  of  seances, 
from  Maine  to  Missouri,  sometimes  with  plain  and  trust- 
worthy people  and  a  sprinkling  of  knaves  and  simple- 
tons, and  sometimes  with  men  and  women  of  eminent 
wisdom  and  of  world-wide  fame. 

I  have  found  a  great  body  of  solid  fact  and  convincing 
truth.  I  have  also  found  honest  self-deception  folly  and 
depravity — useless  chaff  and  poisonous  tares  mingled  with 
the  wheat,  but  a  healthful,  winnowing  going  on. 

In  the  soul  is  the  sense  of  sublimity  and  beauty. 
Mountain  and  ocean,  rose  and  violet,  respond  to  it  and 
are  needed  by  it.  In  that  miscrocosmic  soul  is  the  sense 
of  immortality,  primal  and  lasting.  Is  it  not  helped  in  its 
growth  by  these  external  facts .?  We  pity  the  blind  who 
miss  nature's  beauty.  Do  not  the  spiritually  blind  miss 
as  much  ? 

EARLY   EXPERIENCES. 

Coming  home  from  a  year's  stay  in  Milwaukee  in  1850 
we  found  Benjamin  and  Sarah  D.  Fish,  the  parents  of  my 
wife,  in  Rochester,  New  York,  among  the  earliest  investi- 
gators. We  could  not  doubt  their  integrity,  and  knew 
their  intelligence  and  freedom  from  credulity.  New  won- 
ders were  revealed,  and  I  waited  for  months  in  vain  for 
their  solution,  having  no  faith  in  their  alleged  spiritual 
origin,  and  not  caring  to  spend  time  in  trying  to  solve  the 
mystery.  IVIy  friend  Isaac  Post  said  to  me  :  "  I  want  thee 
to  come  to  our  house  to-night.  Last  night  we  had  a  circle, 
and  it  was  rapped  out  that  thee  must  come  to-morrow  and 
would  hear  the  raps.  I  started  out,  on  a  cold  December 
evening,  for  a  long  walk  to  his  house.  Reaching  there  I 
found  the  two  mediums,  the  family,  and  two  or  three 
others  whom  I  knew,  and  we  sat  around  the  table.     For 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


225 


an  hournot  a  rap  was  heard,and  no  manifestations  came. 
All  were  disappointed,  and  we  left  the  table.  Isaac  said  : 
"  Perhaps  thee  may  get  a  message  yet.  Sometimes  they 
come  when  we  are  not  sitting  at  the  table."  I  waited  a 
while  and  then  put  on  my  overcoat  to  go,  but  was  urged 
to  stay  a  little  longer.  At  last,  with  coat  buttoned,  and 
cap  and  gloves  on,  I  stood  with  one  hand  on  the  door- 
knob and  said  :  "I  must  go,  for  the  walk  is  long.  I  am 
sorry,  for  your  sake  as  well  as  for  my  own,  that  these 
spirits  don't  keep  their  promise. "  Just  then  Isaac  said  : 
"Listen  !"  and  surely  there  came  strange  noises.  From 
under  a  bureau  in  the  far  corner  of  the  room  the  raps  were 
heard,  with  that  singular  quality  of  sound,  indescribable 
yet  marked,  which  distinguishes  them  from  any  rap  by 
hand  or  implement.  Three  raps  were  repeated  several 
times.  I  asked  what  to  do,  and  was  told  to  ask  some 
question.  What  I  asked  is  out  of  mind,  but  ready  and 
correct  answers  came  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  an  intel- 
ligent personality  distinct  and  separate  from  any  in  our 
bodily  forms.  Soon  came  a  peculiar  series  of  raps,  and  I 
was  told  it  meant  good-night  and  I  would  get  no  more. 
In  vain  I  questioned  farther,  no  response  came,  and  I 
started  homeward. 

It  was  very  simple,  but  very  wonderful.  It  seemed 
like  a  summons  to  look  farther,  bringing  to  mind  the  New 
Testament  injunction  :  "Ask  and  ye  shall  receive,  .  .  . 
knock  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you."  I  was  not  per- 
turbed or  alarmed,  and  asked  my  questions  as  quietly  as  I 
would  address  a  familiar  friend.  I  knew  the  persons  and 
the  house,  and  felt  sure  that  this  was  no  work  of  theirs. 
One  of  the  mediums  was  in  a  distant  room,  and  the  other 
sat  quietly  near  me.  I  came  to  no  hasty  conclusion,  but 
felt  that  here  were  facts  to  be  looked  at.  Walking  home 
it  semed  as  though  I  had  caught  gleams  of  white  radiance 
from  some  supernal  region,  yet  it  might  be  the  glamour 

15 


2  26  ^"P '^^'-^  '^D  S  TEPS  OF  SE  VEXTY  YEA RS. 

of  some    illusion.       The    fact   of    intelligent     responses 
strangely  stirred  me. 

I  followed  up  this  matter,  endeavored  to  judge  fairly, 
never  to  accept  anything  contrary  to  reason  and  con- 
science, and  to  be  sure  that  what  I  saw  or  heard  would 
stand  the  test  of  close  scrutiny.  The  gaining  knowledge 
of  facts  is  a  scientific  process  ;  the  thoughts  and  ideas 
which  these  facts  suggest  may  lead  to  self-knowledge  and 
illumination,  and  to  the  immortal  life  and  the  Infinite 
Spirit. 

If  the  knowledge  of  a  fact  of  spirit-presence  only 
gratifies  a  love  of  marvels,  it  is  of  trifling  use,  even 
worse  than  useless  sometimes  ;  if  it  aw^akens  heart  and 
mind  to  truer  life  it  is  priceless. 

Nothing  in  established  science,  not  Evolution,  for  in- 
stance, is  more  fully  proven  than  the  reality  of  spirit 
presence  and  power.  The  Evolutionist  well  says  : 
"  Here  are  the  facts,  account  for  them  in  some  other  way, 
or  accept  my  theory."  The  Spiritualist  says  the  same  of 
his  facts  and  his  theory,  and  with  equal  pertinence. 
Other  ways  of  accounting  for  the  facts  fail  in  both  cases, 
and  Evolution  and  Spiritualism,  kindred  truths,  both  gain 
and  both  will  conquer  at  last. 

HOME  EXPERIEN'CES. 

On  the  evening  of  Sept.  29th.  1851,  at  the  house  of 
Benjamin  Fish,  he  was  present  with  his  wife,  and  my  wife 
and  myself,  her  two  brothers,  Albert  and  George,  a 
domestic,  Ellen,  Isaac  and  Amy  Post  and  Leah  Fish,  the 
medium.  We  sat  in  full  light  two  hours  around  the  large 
dining-table.  In  writing  my  questions  I  sat  at  the  end  of 
the  table  with  my  hand  shielded  from  the  medium's  sight, 
and  wrote  first  :  "  Will  my  sister  communicate  ?  "  to 
which  three  raps  responded  "Yes."  I  then  asked:  "If 
names  are  written  will  she  respond  to  her  own  .''  "  I  wrote 
Mary,  Emeline,    Eliza,   etc.,  in  different  ways, — raps  re- 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


227 


spending  repeatedly  to  the  second  name,  which  was 
right.  In  like  manner  my  father's  and  mother's  names 
were  readily  given,  and  that  of  William,  my  sister's  son. 
The  name  of  her  husband,  Alexander,  was  given,  and  he 
was,  and  is,  on  earth.  His  name  purported  to  come  from 
his  wife  in  the  spirit- world.  I  asked  if  father  would  rap 
once  for  each  ten  years  of  his  age,  and  then  give  the 
fractional  years  ;  when  there  came  seven  raps,  slow  and 
strong,  one  quicker  and  less  decided,  followed  by  a  faint 
sound  that  seemed  like  a  part  of  the  last.  His  age  was 
71  years  and  five  months.  Mother's  age,  58,  came  in  like 
way,  and  then  my  sister's  was  given  as  29  years.  I  asked 
if  this  was  right,  and  raps  said  yes.  I  said  I  thought  not, 
but  again  came  an  emphatic  response  that  it  was.  Here 
was  a  mistake  ;  she  was  thirty-one,  as  I  well  knew.  It 
was  the  only  incorrect  answer,  and  the  error  seemed 
firmly  fixed  in  the  mind  which  was  communicating.  The 
age  of  her  son  William,  eleven  years,  came  right. 

I  asked  mentally:  "  Shall  I  speak  in  public  on  this 
subject }  "  and  the  raps  gave  alphabetic  reply  :  "  Yes,  you 
will."  Whether  my  questions  were  vocal,  written  or 
mental,  made  no  difference  in  the  readiness  of  reply. 

Messages  also  came  to  others  present.  When  about 
half  through  the  power  seemed  to  weaken,  word  was 
rapped  by  alphabet,  without  our  wish  or  expectation  : 
"Wait,  dear  child,  until  we  repair  our  telegraph,"  and 
after  a  short  silence  all  went  on  with  new  vigor.  Father 
spelled  out  :  "Giles,  I  want  you  to  weigh  the  impor- 
tance of  these  things,  you  will  soon  know  more."  I  asked 
my  sister  :  "'Can  you  touch  me.-"  "  and  theready  answer 
was  :  "  If  I  had  the  power  you  would  not  ask  me  more 
than  once  " — all  by  alphabetic  raps.  The  table  was  moved 
a  foot  or  two  several  times,  with  our  hands  laid  lightly 
on  it. 

At  the  close  I  said  :  "  Will  you  all  rap  farewell  ?  "  and 
there  came  one  loud  rap,  two  less  loud  but  distinct  from 


228  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

each  other,  and  one  very  gentle,  all  repeated  together. 
Then  the  unexpected  final  word:  "But  not  farewell, 
dear  son,  forever."  The  raps  claiming  to  come  from  these 
four  persons  were  as  distinct  in  quality  and  volume,  and 
as  readily  distinguished,  as  so  many  voices.  In  a  good 
circle  this  is  usually  the  case.  Intelligence  of  invisible 
persons,  power,  design,  a  sense  of  the  real  presence  of 
those  purporting  to  be  with  us,  marked  these  two  valua- 
ble hours,  as  they  have  like  seasons  in  the  lives  of  many 
thousands,  far  over  oceans  and  continents.  All  were 
spiritualists  except  the  two  young  men,  and  they  frankly 
said  they  could  not  understand  it 

At  Lake  Pleasant  Camp  Meeting  in  1878,  on  the  plat- 
form in  presence  of  3000  people,  J.  F.  Baxter  described  a 
large  man  who  passed  away  suddenly,  a  person  of  marked 
mental  power  and  great  weight  of  character.  He  turned 
to  me  earnestly  and  said:  "Do  you  remember  what  I 
said  to  you  at  my  house  about  justice  being  done  me  over 
the  other  side  ?  "  This  question,  asked  as  though  Baxter 
spoke  for  the  spirit,  at  once  brought  the  scene  alluded  to 
vividly  to  my  mind.  I  asked  the  name,  and  "Ward"  was 
given.  I  asked  the  first  name,  and  Mr.  Baxter  said, 
"Eber. "  Five  years  before,  Eber  B.  Ward  of  Detroit  had 
a  paralytic  stroke,  and  his  life  was  saved  for  a  time  by  the 
vigilant  skill  of  his  sister  Emily.  About  a  fortnight  after 
I  was  at  his  house  and  he  was  lying  on  the  lounge  in  the 
sitting  room,  as  we  talked  together.  No  others  were  pres- 
ent, nor  did  I  ever  tell  what  was  said,  save  to  my  wife  and 
his  sister.  He  spoke  of  his  condition,  said  he  expected  to 
get  better,  yet  knew  that  any  excitement  or  mistake  might 
send  him  out  of  his  bodily  life  any  moment ;  that  he 
wished  to  stay  for  reasons  affecting  his  family  and  others. 
"As  for  myself,"  said  he,  "  I  have  no  special  anxiety,  for 
I  shall  get  justice  over  the  other  side,  and  even  if  it  may 
be  hard  nobody  ought  to  shirk  from  it,  in  this  world, 
or  in  any  world.     I  am  ready  to  meet  it,  there  or  here, 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  229 

and  I  can't  see  why  I  should  be  anxious  about  deatli. '' 

All  this  was  years  before  and  far  distant.  The  name 
might  have  been  known,  but  not  our  conversation. 

The  thought  of  supernal  realms  full  of  the  wealth  and 
glory  of  angelic  human  life,  of  the  dear  immortals  of 
whom  we  may  gain  glimpses  in  hours  of  open  vision,  or 
whose  presence  we  may  feel  and  know,  and  of  the  Infinite 
presence,  fills  the  soul  with  joyful  reverence.  These  rich 
experiences  lift  and  light  up  the  whole  being,  and  their 
memory  lives  and  glows  for  long  years.  They  are  like 
sweet  strains  of  music,  brief  because  one  could  not  hear 
them  long  and  live  in  the  body,  yet  no  earthly  melody  so 
thrills  the  heart  as  these  voices  from  the  spirit-land. 

That  thought,  and  these  experiences,  will  be  strong 
helps,  needed  in  our  day,  to  give  us  a  basis  for  thinking, 
with  a  clear  insight  of  the  meaning  of  this  universe, 
which  goes  beneath  the  external  view  of  Nature,  even  to 
guiding  mind  as  well  as  to  the  matter  it  guides.  Thus 
the  way  will  open  for  a  deeper  philosophy,  which  will 
undermine  the  shallow  foundations  of  agnosticism,  and 
lead  our  "scientific  method"  to  take  in  rnind  as  well  as 
matter,  and  so  be  more  perfect,  and  in  unity  with  natural 
religion.      That  deeper  philosophy  must  come. 

At  one  time  when  we  were  at  tea  with  Mrs.  Leah  Under- 
hill  and  her  husband,  at  their  pleasant  home  in  New  York, 
as  we  sat  at  the  tea-table  in  the  basement,  Leah  (eldest 
daughter  of  the  Fox  family  of  Hydesville,  N.  Y.,)  said  : 
"We  are  quiet  and  alone,  suppose  we  sit  and  see  what 
comes."  She  rang  the  bell  and  the  servant  came  in  and 
cleared  off  the  table,  leaving  no  cloth  over  its  top.  It 
was  an  extension  table,  pushed  together  with  just  room 
for  four  of  us  to  sit  around  it.  In  a  moment,  after  we 
were  quiet,  sitting  under  the  gas-light  (faint  yet  distinct) 
with  our  hands  resting  on  the  table,  came  a  shower 
of  raps  on  the  ceiling,  the  walls,  the  floor,  our  chairs, 
and   the   table.     Our  persons  were  patted  and  touched, 


230  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

all   at   the   same   time,    not   one  and   then    another,    as 
though  invisible  hands  caressed  us.      Indescribably  soft 
and  delicate,  and  then   distinct    and  emphatic,  were  the 
risincr  and  falling  waves  of  these  thousand  sounds  ming- 
ling   together,    pulsing    and    thrilling    through    the    air. 
For  five  or  ten  minutes   this  lasted.      Soon  there  came 
from  amidst  these  many  sounds  a  few  more  distinct,  and 
these  gradually  came  to  be  known  as  five  raps,  as  well 
recognized  as  so  many  voices,  and  each  known  from  all 
the  others.     The  other  sounds  did  not  wholly  cease,  but 
would   die   away  softly  and  then    grow    distinct,   never 
making  confusion  or  obstrrcting  the  hearing  of  these  five. 
My  father,  mother  and  sister,  and  our  two  children,  pur- 
ported to  give  us  messages,  and  vocal  or   mental  ques- 
tions   were  answered  with  like  readiness,  the  messages 
alphabetically  given,  I\Irs.  Underbill  rapidly  spelling  out 
letters  and  words  given  by  the  raps.      For  more  than  an 
hour  this  went  on,  every  answer  clear  and  correct,  and 
the   sweet  play  of  tender  emotion  making  all  beautiful. 
At  last  came   the  good-bye   message,  and  all  was  silent. 
Mrs.  Underhill.  has    never,    since  her   present  marriage, 
taken  pay  for  seances,   and  never  sits  save  to  gratify  and 
help  her  many  friends. 

After  being  convinced  by  many  tests,  I  cared  less  for 
them,  and  aimed  to  know  more  of  the  philosophy  of  life 
to  which  they  lead,  and  to  learn  that  one's  own  interior 
culture  and  illumination,  the  opening  of  the  soul  to  spirit- 
communion,  and  the  harmonious  development  of  thought 
and  life  was  the  lesson  these  tests  brought  us. 

Yet  good  manifestations  of  spirit-presence  and  power 
arc  always  commanding  and  attractive. 

Theological  and  scientific  bigots  judge  spiritualism  by 
its  follies  and  frauds  :  judge  the  popular  sects  in  Christ- 
endom in  that  way  and  we  sink  them,  one  and  all, 
"  lower  than  plummet  ever  sounded."  But  they  are  not 
so  judged.     Under  froth  and  scum  we  see  the  clear  water 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


231 


and  the  sweep  of  strong  waves.  The  truth  of  spirit- 
presence  and  power  must  be  made  a  reality  in  the  minds 
of  the  people,  a  fact  which  they  habitually  accept.  Science 
must  admit  it,  and  religion  gain  new  inspiration  from  its 
acceptance.  This  is  the  work  of  the  spiritual  movement. 
The  people  in  the  spirit-life  see  this  world  ripening  for  it 
and  are  working  to  the  same  end. 

Twenty  years  ago,  in  a  pleasant  parlor  in  Washington, 
I  sat  with  a  group  of  some  six  persons,  friends  and 
acquaintances,  around  a  marble-top  table,  beneath  the 
bright  gaslight.  On  the  table  was  a  sheet  of  blank  print- 
ing-paper ;  on  the  paper  a  planchette  ;  on  that  the  finger- 
tips of  a  gentleman  and  two  ladies.  The  gentleman  was 
a  materialist,  and  had  never  seen  a  planchette  ;  the  ladies 
were  spiritualists ;  one  of  them  mediumistic  at  home. 
One  of  the  ladies  met  the  gentleman  for  the  first  time  at 
the  tea-table,  an  hour  before,  when  the  seance  was  first 
proposed.  Said  the  gentleman,  "This  is  all  a  puzzle  to 
me.  I  don't  know  what  this  thing  will  do  or  write.  One 
of  these  ladies  can't  move  it  alone,  or  with  me,  but  when 
the  other  touches  it,  off  it  goes,  and  if  we  touch  it  with 
her  it  goes  better." 

It  wrote  in  a  bold  and  legible  hand.  They  had  no  idea 
what  was  being  written  until  it  came,  most  of  the  mes- 
sages took  us  all  by  surprise  and  none  were  untrue. 
Whether  the  sitters  looked  on,  or  did  not  see  the  instru- 
ment, made  little,  if  any,  difference.  The  room  of  a 
United  States  Senator,  not  a  spiritualist,  was  overhead, 
and  his  name  was  written,  and  a  wish  that  he  should 
come.  He  came,  and  a  political  prediction  was  made  to 
him,  which  he  thought  very  improbable,  but  which  was 
verified  in  due  time.  For  an  hour  or  more  this  continued. 
The  name,  residence,  and  occupation  of  the  spirit  pur- 
porting to  communicate  with  the  Senator  were  given. 
None  of  us  had  ever  heard  of  such  a  person,  nor  had 
he,  but  some  weeks  after  we  learned  that  a  man  of  that 


232  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

name  had  filled  the  place  a  thousand  miles  distant,  which 
we  were  told  this  spirit  occupied  when  in  this  life. 

Sometimes  the  intelligences  purporting  to  be  presenter 
guiding  will  say  that  strange  things  are  done  to  awaken 
attention  and  interest. 

In  the  life  beyond,  as  here,  are  all  grades  of  thought 
and  character,  for  we  begin  in  that  life  where  we  leave 
off  here,  but  with  more  to  uplift  us. 

FIERY  ORDEAL. 

At  Sunapee  Lake,  N.H.,  I  met  an  awkward  and  diffident 
young  man,  who  wished  some  of  us  to  see  what  might 
come  to  him.  We  went,  at  midday,  to  a  tent  near  the 
lake  and  sat  around  a  bench  at  its  front.  A  tin  dish  was 
scoured,  clean,  pure  water  brought  from  the  lake,  he 
rolled  up  his  sleeves  to  the  elbows  and  washed  hands  and 
arms  with  soap,  rinsing  thoroughly  in  pure  w^ater  in  the 
basin.  A  large  kerosene  lamp  was  lighted,  and  put  on 
the  bench,  turned  up  to  a  fierce  blaze  ;  he  took  hold  of  the 
hot  glass  chimney  and  took  it  off,  and  put  his  hands  over 
and  into  the  strong  flame  which  curled  between  his  fingers 
and  covered  both  sides  of  his  hands.  He  was  in  his 
normal  state,  and  was  certainly  the  only  unconcerned 
person  present,  for  it  seemed  as  though  he  was  running 
a  terrible  and  foolish  risk.  Taking  his  hands  out  of  the 
fearful  heat  he  laid  them  in  mine  immediately.  TJiey 
were  as  cold  as  ice  nearly  to  the  elbows,  the  arms  above  of 
natural  warmth.  Not  a  mark  on  the  skin,  not  a  hair  on 
the  back  of  the  hands  singed,  and  in  five  minutes  or  less 
the  icy  cold  gave  way  to  a  lifelike  warmth,  and  no- signs 
of  the  fiery  ordeal  were  left.  He  said,  in  a  simple  way, 
that  this  was  the  spirit  power  of  a  boy  he  knew  who  was 
drowned.  As  clairvoyance  is  finer  and  further  reaching 
than  the  sight  of  our  dull  eyes,  so  the  chemistry  of  the 
spirit-world  may  be  more  subtle  than  any  we  can  reach 
with  our  poor  retorts  and  crucibles. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  233 

I  once  cleaned  and  fastened  together  by  a  stout  string;- 
two  slates  with  a  bit  of  pencil  between  them,  laid  thcMii 
on  a  lounge  ten  feet  from  any  person,  and  in  full  day- 
light, sat  at  the  table  in  the  centre  of  the  room  with  my 
wife  opposite  the  medium,  and  no  other  person  present. 
In  a  short  time  she  brought  the  slates,  I  opening  them 
to  tind  an  intelligent  message  written  on  the  inside. 
Through  all  this  the  medium  sat  without  touching  or  going 
near  the  slates. 

I  have  found  mental,  vocal,  or  written  questions  an- 
swered with  equal  readiness.  I  once  occupied  fifteen 
minutes  in  a  circle  of  six  or  eight  persons,  asking  mental 
questions  and  getting  ready  and  correct  answers,  by  raps 
and  the  motions  of  a  light  stand,  while  the  medium  and 
all  others  present  were  saying  that  the  raps  and  motions 
came  without  any  meaning  or  system.  I  knew  their 
meaning,  as  did  the  invisible  intelligence  present,  but 
they  did  not.  Did  tliey  read  my  mind  ?  This  was  at  a 
farm-house,  a  daughter  the  medium,  but  only  in  private, 
and  my  questioning  was  just  after  the  close  of  a  seance, 
the  rest  having  left  the  light  stand  and  sitting  near  by, 
surprised  that  the  raps  and  moving  should  go  on  in  such 
an  irregular  and  useless  way. 

But  we  must  not  forget  the  scientific  solution  of  Profes- 
sor Carpenter  of  England.  Doubtless  "  unconscious  cer- 
ebration," cerebrated  the  loud  raps,  and  "mental  pre- 
possession "  prepossessed  the  stand  to  rise  in  the  air  and 
swing  to  and  fro.  Certainly  no  popular  scientist  in  the 
world  has  given  a  better  solution. 

Possibly  it  might  have  been  the  devil,  as  some  grave 
clergymen  still  insist.  I  do  not  wish  to  lose  respect 
for  learned  scientists  and  pious  divines,  but  am  sorely 
afraid  I  shall  unless  they  stop  talking  such  nonsense.  The 
verdict  of  Prof.  A.  R.  Wallace,  F.  R.  S.,  given  after  careful 
and  patient  investigation,  is  in  refreshing  contrast  to  these 
foolish  notions.      He   says:     "It    (Spiritualism)    demon- 


2  ^4  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS, 

strates  mind  without  brain,  and  intelligence  disconnected 

from  a  material  body It  furnishes  the  proof  of  a 

future  life  which  so  many  crave,  and  for  want  of  which 
so  many  live  and  die  in  anxious  doubt,  so  many  in 
positive  disbelief." 

STRIKING    PERSONAL   DESCRIPTIONS. 

Being  in  one  of  our  cities  on  the  Atlantic  coast  in  May, 
1890,  I  went  to  spend  the  night  at  the  home  of  a  friend 
whom  I  had  known  for  years.  His  wife  I  had  met  a  few 
times.  I  knew  that  she  had  some  mediumistic  gifts,  but 
they  were  never  shown  iii  my  presence.  At  the  time 
of  this  visit  I  expected  nothing  of  the  kind,  as  they 
were  busy  preparing  for  a  long  journey.  The  husband 
was  not  home  from  his  office,  and  the  wife  came  in 
soon  after  my  arrival,  met  me  in  the  parlor,  and  sat  down 
by  the  window,  talking  pleasantly  of  daily  affairs.  She 
soon  said:  "I  see  by  you  a  Quaker  woman.  She  says 
she  thinks  as  much  of  you  as  ever.  She  is  feeble  from 
age,  not  disease,  and  her  life  on  earth  was  marked  by 
a  constant  and  remarkable  benevolence."  Other  details 
of  description  made  me  know  the  person  and  ask  her 
name.  It  was  given  after  some  delay — other  persons  being 
described  meanwhile — as  "Amy  Post,  Rochester,  New 
York,"  with  a  special  personal  message  for  me  to  carry 
to  one  of  her  family. 

Before  this  a  sister  of  mine  had  been  so  described  that 
I  knew  her,  and  then  her  name,  Emeline,  given  as  having 
been  in  the  spirit-world  a  long  time,  which  was  correct. 

A  man  of  marked  and  peculiar  beauty  was  then  de- 
scribed as  wishing  me  to  know  him — tall,  spare,  of  a  fine 
and  delicate  organization,  in  poor  health,  and  thought  of 
by  all  who  knew  him,  or  heard  him  preach,  as  a  saint — 
of  heaven  more  than  of  earth.  Then  I  was  told  :  "  His 
name  was  William  Peabody,  with  a  long  middle  name 
I  cannot  get.     He  preached  in  Springfield,  Massachusetts. " 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  235 

It  was  a  striking-  description,  in  person  and  character,  of 
Rev.  Wm.  Oliver  Bourne  Peabody,  of  Springfield,  and 
brought  back  the  days  when,  as  a  child,  1  sat  in  our  pew 
in  the  Unitarian  church  in  my  native  place,  with  my  dear 
parents  and  sister,  and  heard  his  words  as  though  fruni 
an  angel  from  heaven.  He  was  a  poet  and  scholar,  a 
man  rich  in  spiritual  gifts,  greatly  loved  and  reverenced, 
and  the  fine  touches  of  the  description  were  very  inter- 
esting. 

1  had  no  thought  of  any  of  these,  no  expectation  of  any 
such  experience.  The  lady  was  in  a  perfectly  normal 
state,  and  talked  of  other  matters  while  giving  these  des- 
criptions, which  filled  less  than  an  hour.  When  the  hus_ 
band  came  iu  she  told  him  what  had  happened,  and  the 
subject  was  dropped.  She  said  she  did  not  know  of  the 
existence  of  any  of  these  persons  ;  all  this  came  to  me 
as  a  welcome  gratuity,  and  the  word  of  these  intelligent 
people  is  held  good  as  gold  among  their  many  friends. 

I  once  sat  down  by  the  window  of  J.  V.  Mansfield's 
room  on  Sixth  Av-enue,  New  York,  at  noon,  he  being 
twenty  feet  away,  wrote  a  letter  to  a  friend  as  though  he 
were  still  in  the  body,  folded  and  sealed  it,  called  Mans- 
field, who  came  and  sat  down  before  me,  laid  his  left  hand 
fingers  over  the  letter  (in  blank  envelope),  took  paper 
and  pencil  and  rapidly  filled  a  sheet,  which  he  pushed 
across  the  table  to  me.  It  was  a  clear  and  consecutive 
answer  to  mine,  signed  by  my  friend's  name,  each  point 
and  question  of  my  epistle  answered  in  their  order,  and 
with  allusions  to  distant  persons  and  events,  and  plans 
not  known  to  Mansfield,  not  consciously  in  my  mind, 
and  not  all  knoivn  to  me.  Here  was  power  and  personal 
intelligence  beyond  the  ken  of  either  of  us. 

Not  as  lawless  miracles,  but  as  natural  facts  in  accord 
with  spiritual  laws  do  these  things  take  place.  Do  we 
know  all  the  laws  of  the  world  of  matter,  and  its  con- 
trolling and  interior  world  of  mind  ? 


236  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

H.  W.  Thomas,  the  widely-known  preacher  of  the 
Peoples'  Church  in  Chicago,  said  to  his  two  thousand 
hearers  : 

"  To  me  this  doctrine  of  the  spirit-life,  the  immanence 
and  presence  of  helping  and  guiding  spirits,  is  a  comfort- 
ing thought.  It  brings  me  into  the  presence  of  the 
innumerable  host  that  people  the  spirit-land.  It  gives 
me  a  consciousness  of  the  great  fact  of  immortality.  It 
gives  me  a  sweet  consciousness  that  my  friends  live  on 
the  other  shore,  and  that,  to  me,  they  will  come  as  min- 
istering angels  in  the  dying  hour,  to  receive  the  spirit, 
weakened  and  pale,  and  bear  it  to  the  love  and  the  life 
above." 

In  reply  to  the  assertion  that  angelic  ministry  and  help 
in  the  affairs  of  this  world  cannot  be,  because  so  many 
do  not  know  it,  he  well  answered  : 

"The  earth  turned  on  its  axis  and  swept  round  the 
sun  on  its  orbit  for  thousands  of  years,  and  man  knew 
nothing  of  it" 

In  1878  I  saw  INIrs.  E.  C.  Simpson- in  Chicago,  a  well- 
known  medium.  We  were  total  strangers.  INIy  uncle, 
Calvin  Stebbins,  of  Wilbraham,  Mass.,  who  passed  away 
severaly  ears  before,  had  his  name  given  and  characteristic 
messages  written  out  on  the  slate.  One  of  these  was  : 
"Rethought,  when  on  earth,  that  spirits  went  but  did 
not  come  again."  I  did  not  know  his  views,  but  sup- 
posed him  to  be  a  spiritualist,  knowing  he  had  paid  some 
attention  to  the  subject.  The  next  week  I  saw  his  wife, 
in  Detroit,  who  said  that  he  was  not  convinced  of  spirit- 
intercourse,  but  had  a  firm  faith  in  immortality.  She 
had  never  been  in  Chicag-o  :  her  husband  had  never  seen 
the  west,  and  she  spends  most  of  her  time  in  New  Eng- 
land. The  message  touching  his  views  was  correct,  yet 
contrary  to  my  thought  and  expectation.  How  could  my 
mind  have  influenced  Ml  One  of  these  written  messages 
was  strikingly  characteristic  of  the  vigor  and   clearness 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  237 

of  my  departed  kinsman:  "I  find  no  hell  or  baby's 
skulls,  as  we  used  to  talk  of.  I  find  over  here  common- 
sense  and  justice.  Each  man  makes  his  own  destiny. 
God  has  not  destined  any  one  to  heaven  or  hell.  Ah  ! 
Giles,  the  abyss  is  bridged,  and  we  are  fortifying  the 
arches  under  the  bridge,  daily,  daily." 

In  ways  widely  varied,  all  grades  of  thought  and  cul- 
ture are  reached.  Manifestations  of  power  come  to  strike 
and  awaken  the  dull  and  dead  in  spirit,  and  transcendant 
grandeur  and  beauty  of  thought  and  speech,  stir  and  uplift 
the  most  gifted  and  discerning,  while  higher  manifesta- 
tions of  intelligence  and  power  combined  are  the  despair 
of  science. 

With  high  respect  for  the  critical  care  of  skilled  and 
fair-minded  scientists,  I  have  no  respect  for  those  who 
sneer  at  what  they  cannot  solve,  or  for  the  ridiculous 
pride  which  assumes  that  none  outside  of  professional 
scientific  circles  are  competent  investigators.  Pride  and 
bigotry  are  the  same  in  professor  or  in  priest 

PIANO  MUSIC  WITHOUT  VISIBLE  HANDS. 

In  the  parlor  of  a  farm-house  east  of  Lockport,  New 
York,  I  was  one  of  eight  or  ten  persons,  neighbors  and 
friends  of  the  family  ;  the  medium  Miss  Brooks  of  Buffalo. 
It  being  afternoon  the  room  was  darkened,  the  piano  I 
locked  and  put  the  key  in  my  pocket,  and  it  was  pushed 
back  between  the  windows,  the  side  on  which  were  its 
kej's  close  to  the  wall.  We  sat  in  a  semicircle  around  it 
with  hands  joined.  The  medium  sat  near  the  end  of  the 
piano,  next  me  on  one  side,  and  I  held  the  hand,  on  the 
other  side  of  a  lady,  the  only  piano-player  present.  For 
an  hour,  or  more  (with  the  instrument  locked),  we  had 
wonderful  music,  sometimes  the  keys  and  then  the  wires 
being  swept  as  by  unseen  fingers.  Now  the  sounds  came 
soft  as  the  dying  strains  of  an  N.oY\^\\  harp,  and  then 
bursting  and  rattling    like  sharp    thunder,   creaking  and 


2 -.8  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS, 

pounding  in  what  was  called  a  shipwreck  piece,    with  a 
violence  which  threatened  to  ruin  the  instrument. 

All  the  while  Miss  Brooks  sat  quiet,  as  did  all  the  rest. 
This  was  in  the  dark,  but  several  times  in  Washington, 
D.  C,  I  sat  close  b)^  the  piano,  in  full  light,  when  fine 
music  came  from  its  keys  and  strings  which  no  one 
touched,  the  visible  pianist  swinging  on  his  stool  with 
his  face  away  from  the  instrument. 

That  pianist,  Jesse  Shepard,  purported  to  play  under 
the  guiding  inspiration  of  famed  musicians,  and  I  took 
pains  to  ask  a  lady,  not  a  spiritualist,  but  a  truthful, 
musical  critic,  to  sit  near,  and  she  pronounced  his 
renderings  of  difficult  operas,  which  she  asked  for,  abso- 
lutely perfect,  and  the  large  and  brilliant  company  filling 
the  parlors,  were  intensely  interested.  While  he  played, 
or  sat  near,  I  saw  the  piano  rise  a  foot  in  the  air.  and 
drop  down  agam,  several  times,  his  whole  person  in  my 
sight,  so  that  I  knew  he  had  no  muscular  part  in  its  rising. 

George  W.  Taylor  of  Lawton,  Erie  Co.,  New  York,  a 
reliable  witness,  tells  me  of  a  company  of  people  in  the 
house  of  Mr.  Cobb,  a  well  known  resident  of  Dunkirk, 
with  Mrs.  Swain  of  Buffalo,  a  medium,  among  them. 
The  piano  was  badly  out  of  tune,  and  was  rolled,  as  by 
unseen  hands,  from  its  place  by  the  wall  into  the  midst 
of  the  circle. 

Then  began  what  seemed  a  tuning  process,  the  piano 
being  closed,  the  trying  of  its  chords,  the  snapping  and 
twanging  of  its  strings  going  on  for  some  forty  minutes. 
The  next  day  an  expert  musician,  a  friend  in  the  family, 
called  and  Mrs.  Cobb  played.  He  exclaimed:  "Why, 
your  piano  is  perfectly  in  tune,  when  was  that  done.?" 
She  told  him  when  and  how,  at  which  he  replied  : 
"Nonsense."     Mrs.  Swain  is  not  a  musician. 

In  these  cases  we  find  skill,  wide  range  of  musical 
expression,  a  high  order  of  intelligent  design,  and  fine 
music  without  any  visible  cause. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


239 


If  not  spirit- presence  and  power,  as  it  claims  to  be, 
what  is  it  ? 

A  FACT  BEYOND  MIND-READING. 

This  narration  was  given  me  by  George  W,  Taylor.  I 
well  knew  his  brother  Joseph  and  wife,  and  Humphrey 
Smith  and  wife,  and  have  had  the  same  facts  from  them. 
With  the  little  village  of  Shirley,  25  miles  south  of  Buffalo, 
New  York,  I  am  familiar. 

About  1858,  IVIr.  Taylor  was  in  the  Shirley  post-office 
when  Humphrey  Smith  came  in,  took  out  a  letter,  opened 
it  and  began  to  read,  and  exclaimed,  "It  is  from  brother 
Cornelius,  his  wife  Lucetta  is  dead,"  and  started  for  his 
house  near  by,  the  group  of  persons  in  the  post-oftice 
hearing  him  and  noticing  his  agitation,  he  being  an  elderly 
man  of  Quaker  ways,  well  known  and  much  thought  of. 
Taylor  started  immediately  for  his  brother  Joseph's 
house,  near  by,  and  saw  him,  and  his  wife  Mary,  daughter 
of  Humphrey  and  Deborah  Smith,  sitting  in  their  open 
door.  Mary  had  occasionally  been  a  slate-writer,  not 
knowing  what  she  wrote,  but  had  declared  that  she  would 
write  no  more,  for  she  said  the  spirits,  if  they  were 
spirits,  did  not  tell  the  truth.  The  object  of  George  in 
going  there  was  to  get  a  test,  and  he  asked  her  to  hold 
the  slate  and  let  the  writing  come.  She  refused,  but  her 
husband  laid  it  in  her  lap,  and  put  a  pencil  on  it.  She 
still  refusing  to  write,  her  hand  was  moved  and  the 
message  written  :  "  Charles'  letter  has  come.  Aunt  Lucetta 
is  dead."  They  read  this  and  she  exclaimed  :  "It  is  not 
true,"  and  hastily  rubbed  it  out.  Again,  and  as  though 
forced  to  it,  she  wrote  the  same  message  and  again  rubbed 
it  out  indignantly.  Just  then  George  saw  Deborah  Smith, 
coming  over  the  brook  with  the  letter  in  her  hand,  and 
motioned  to  her  to  hide  it,  which  she  did  in  her  pocket, 
and  to  be  silent.  She  came  in  and  her  daughter  Mary  at 
once  wrote  the  same  message  on  the  slate  a  third  time. 


240  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

and  rubbed  it  out,  Sctying; :  "  It  is  not  true."  Her  mother 
then  SDoke  out  :  "  It  is  true,  Charles  was  at  home  at  his 
father's  (at  Rock  Island,  111.)  and  he  wrote  the  letter,  and 
his  father  Cornelius  did  not."  Up  to  this  point  none 
present  but  George  knew  of  any  letter,  and  he  supposed 
it  was  from  Cornelius  and  not  from  Charles,  yet  these 
repeated  messages  were  A^itten,  telling  the  exact  fact  of  a 
matter  of  which  the  writer  and  her  husband  knew  nothing 
and  giving  what  George  supposed  was  a  mistaken  state- 
ment. I  have  had,  from  Charles  Smith,  his  statement  of  his 
writing  the  letter  for  his  father,  he  being  present  at  his 
mother's  death  and  wishing  to  inform  his  uncle  Humphrey 
and  family  immediately.  In  his  surprise  on  its  receipt, 
Humphrey  did  not  read  the  signature,  supposing  it  was, 
of  course,  from  his  brother  Cornelius. 

This  slate-writing  by  Mary,  always  claimed  to  be  from 
her  beloved  brother  Giles,  who  had  passed  away  in 
California,  years  before. 

All  these  persons,  were  of  superior  integrity  and  intelli- 
gence, self-poised  and  healthy  in  mind. 

Mind-reading  fails  to  solve  this  case. 

LIFTED    IN    THE    AIR. 

One  evening  in  Ann  Arbor,  at  the  house  of  Judge 
Lawrence,  and  in  presence  of  several  v/ell-known  per- 
sons, I  sat  about  two  feet  from  Henry  Slade,  both  our 
chairs  near  the  wall,  but  not  touching  it,  and  he  in  full 
view,  and  with  no  other  person  in  reach  or  out  of  my 
sight.  I  soon  felt  myself  and  chair  being  raised  in 
the  air,  gently  swinging  and  swaying.  Sitting  perfectly 
quiet  I  asked  others  to  watch  me  and  said  I  had  no  fear 
and  was  willing  to  go  up  to  the  ceiling.  When  suspended 
a  foot  or  more  above  the  floor,  and  still  rising,  my  chair 
caught  under  the  corner  of  the  marble  mantle  with  such 
force  as  to  break  and  tear  apart  the  upper  crosspiece  of 
the  back,  when  it  dropped  heavily  to  the  floor,  carrying 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


241 


me  with  it  of  course.  I  rose  gently  as  though  lifted,  but 
fell  suddenly,  as  though  the  lifting  power  had  ceased  and 
its  invisible  connections  had  been  broken.  This  was  seen 
by  others,  Slade  all  the  time  being  motionless,  and  all  this 
I  did  not  expect  or  think  possible  five  minutes  before  it 
took  place. 

SPIRIT   PORTRAITS. 

I  ONCE  told  a  friend  of  a  spirit-artist,  and  he  mailed 
a  letter  three  hundred  miles,  to  a  stranger,  asking  for  a 
portrait  of  a  son,  whose  age  and  time  of  departure  he 
gave.  A  year  after,  at  their  home,  his  wife  showed  me 
the  portrait,  sent  them  by  mail,  a  month  after  they  wrote, 
and  which  was  recognized  readily  by  his  father,  who 
knew  not  whose  likeness  it  was  thought  to  be,  how  or 
whence  it  came,  or  that  it  had  been  sent  for.  There  was 
no  other  portrait,  and  never  had  been.  A  daughter, 
twelve  years  old,  a  natural  seer,  had  told  her  mother  of 
seeing  a  boy  at  her  bedroom  door,  and  described  this 
brother  who  passed  away  before  she  was  born.  When 
the  picture  came,  and  the  family  were  looking  at  it,  this 
guileless  child  came  in,  looked  over  her  mother's  shoulder, 
and  said,  thoughtfully,  "Mamma,  that  is  the  boy  I  saw 
at  my  door." 

There  came  also  at  the  same  time,  a  fine  likeness,  both 
in  pencil,  half  life-size,  of  another  son,  whose  portrait 
they  had  not  asked  for  nor  sent  his  name. 

In  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  I  went  to  an  artist's  room 
in  the  afternoon  to  meet  a  quiet  and  sensible  man,  who 
mingled  little  with  spiritualists,  and,  as  he  said,  was  not 
a  spiritualist,  yet  felt  that  arisen  artists  helped  him,  he 
being  engaged  in  business  and  in  this  work  only  inci- 
dentally. 

He  sat  down  at  a  table  in  the  middle  of  the  light  room, 
with  crayons  and  cardboard  in  reach.  I  blindfolded  him 
and  stood  over  his  shoulder,  watch  in  hand.     He  caught 

16 


242  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

up  a  pencil,  worked  with  incredible  rapidity,  tossed  asiile 
a  picture  to  begin  another,  and  then  a  third,  finishing 
all  in  fifteen  minutes,  he  being  perfectly  conscious,  yet 
possessed  and  inspired.  One  picture  was  a  portrait,  the 
others  landscapes,  and  they  were  a  foot  or  more  square. 
On  the  corner  of  each  was  written  the  spirit  artist's  name 
under  whose  guidance  it  purported  to  come — all  being 
artists  well  known  in  France  when  on  earth. 

I  brought  them  home  and  took  them  to  a  competent 
and  well-known  artist,  not  a  spiritualist,  for  his  judgment. 
He  said  they  were  "artists'  sketches,"  and  of  real  merit. 
Said  I  :  "Could  you  make  them  in  fifteen  minutes.''"  and 
he  replied  :  "Possibly,  but  doubtful."  Then  I  asked: 
"Could  you  make  them  in  that  time  with  your  eyes 
bandaged  }  "  and  he  said  :  "No,  nor  in  fifteen  hours,  nor 
could  any  artist  on  earth," 

These  are  but  a  few  of  many  equally  convincing  ex- 
periences. Sometimes  clairvoyance,  or  mind-reading, 
might  account  for  what  came,  but  often  not,  and  only 
the  real  presence  or  guidance  of  some  ascended  friend 
could  rationally  solve  the  marvel. 

We  are  spirits  clad  in  earthly  forms,  and  these  people 
from  the  higher  life  are  spirits  clad  in  celestial  bodies, 
but  with  more  fully  unfolded  faculties.  Our  own  interior 
powers  may  account  for  some  so-called  spirit  manifes- 
tations, but  not  for  all.  It  maybe  asked  :  How  are  these 
things  done  ^  Tell  me  how  you  think ;  tell  me  how 
buds  become  flowers  and  blossoms  fruit,  or  how  we  live 
and  grow,  and  I  may  tell  you.  They  are  all  as  fully 
in  accord  with  natural  law  as  the  blooming  of  the  rose  or 
the  rush  of  this  great  globe  we  live  on  through  the 
viewless  air. 

The  heart  hungers  for  the  real  presence  of  the  dear 
departed.  The  tenderest  sympathies  and  affections,  the 
deepest  demands  of  the  soul,  and  the  loftiest  range  of  the 
intellect,  all  reach  toward  the  life  beyond,  and  would  make 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  243 

itinterblend  naturally  and  beautifully  with  our  own  daily 
life.  Spiritualism  meets  these  desires,  and  calls  into 
action  all  these  faculties  in  a  harmonious  search  for 
truth.  The  facts  of  spirit-presence  and  power  are  the  proof 
positive  of  immortality — outward  experiences  verifying: 
the  voice  within  which  says:  "Thou  shalt  never  die!" 
They  come  in  an  hour  when  they  are  needed — to  confound 
materiahsm  ;  to  save  all  that  is  worth  saving  in  dogmatic 
theology;  to  give  us  a  new  Bible  exegesis,  giving  sig- 
nificance to  the  spiritual  truths,  the  visions  and  experiences 
of  the  book  ;  to  open  the  way  for  a  more  perfect  psychol- 
ogy, a  natural  religion  full  of  inspiration,  and  a  more 
perfect  spiritual  philosophy. 

Can  there  be  any  rational  psychology  until  we  see  man 
as  a  spirit,  served  by  a  bodily  organization  here,  and  by 
a  finer  body  hereafter? 

SELDON  J.    FINNEY SPIRIT-EDUCATION. 

In  1858,  while  at  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  I  became  ac- 
quainted with  this  highly  gifted  man,  whose  brief  and 
remarkable  career  was  full  of  usefulness,  marked  by  sur- 
passing eloquence  in  public  and  by  remarkable  private 
experiences. 

Born  in  Delaware  County,  New  York,  reared  in  the 
school  of  honest  and  decent  poverty,  he  was,  at  early 
manhood,  a  working  carpenter,  in  Plato,  near  Oberlin, 
Ohio.  A  manly  youth  of  good  habits,  a  skilful  workman, 
sometimes  speaking  in  Methodist  class-meetings.  It  was 
in  the  early  days  of  modern  Spiritualism,  about  1850,  that 
a  company  of  half-dozen  persons,  in  Plato,  he  being  one, 
agreed  to  sit  an  hour  at  stated  evenings  around  a  table, 
with  hands  laid  on  it,  waiting  for  any  possible  manifes- 
tations, such  as  they  had  heard  of  but  never  witnessed. 
They  knew  and  could  trust  each  other,  and  acted  in  no 
trivial  mood.    For  some  weeks  nothing  occurred,  but  they 


244  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

did  not  give  up.     At  last,  as  Finney   and  others  told  me, 
he  found  himself  sitting  in  his  chair  by  the  table  and  the 
rest  quietly  gazing  at  him,  as  though  pleased  and  amazed, 
"What  have  I  been  doing  ?"  he  asked,  and  the  reply  was: 
"Making  an  excellent  speech  for  almost  an  hour."     Of 
all  this  he  was   utterly    unconscious,  but   agreed  to  meet 
them  again,  as  usual.      Thinking  it  over  he  did  not  like 
being  unconsciously  used,  but  decided  to  go  on,  so  long 
as  he  was  not  harmed  in  mind  or   body  and  said  nothing 
foolish  or  bad.     Several  times  this  experience  was  repeat- 
ed, his  best  friends  assuring  him  that  his  talks  were  good, 
his  health  and   power  of  mind  and  body  gaining  mean- 
while.    Soon    he  was   called   out  in    the  neighborhood, 
then  to   towns  more  distant,  then   for  years  to  the  cities 
from  the  seacoast  to  the    Mississippi  ;  never  a  sensational 
speaker,  always  treating  high  themes  in  noble  ways,  but 
always   calling  out  large   audiences  by  the  power  and 
beauty  of  an  eloquence  I  never  heard  surpassed  and  seldom 
equalled,  while  his  personal  conduct  and  private  life  were 
above  reproach.   Of  medium  stature,  lithe,  erect  and  strong, 
blond  complexion,  rich  voice,  animated  features  and  elo- 
quent  eyes,  he   sv/ayed    and   uplifted  his   hearers,   was 
brave  in  rebuke  and  argument,  rich  in  illustration,  clear 
in  insight,  and  noble  in  expression. 

At  Ann  Arbor  I  once  sat  before  a  man  of  superior 
intelligence  while  we  listened  to  a  speech  from  Finney 
on  questions  of  moral  and  spiritual  philosophy.  My 
friend  said  to  me,  at  its  close  :  "  I  have  heard  our  Univer- 
sity Presidents  lecture  on  moral  philosophy  with  pleasure 
and  profit,  but  they  never  equalled  this  wealth  and  depth 
of  thought." 

Let  us  look  back  and  note  the  remarkable  feature  of  his 
development, — his  clairvoyant  and  spiritual  education. 
Other  cases  of  help  from  celestial  teachers  are  not  lacking 
but  this  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  matter.  His  school 
education    was  quite  limited,  hi3    reading  good,  but  also 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


245 


quite  limited,  when  he  found  himself  in  his  chair  as  one 
awakened  from  a  deep  sleep,  after  an  hour's  speech  of 
which  he  knew  nothing.  It  was  indeed  an  awakening 
hour,  a  new  opening  of  his  interior  faculties  leading  to 
larger  thought  and  deeper  apprehension  of  things.  What 
we  call  education  is  too  much  a  cramming  process,  as 
though  filling  an  empty  receptacle.  Here  was  a  true 
educing  process  ;  a  calling  out  of  the  inner  life  ;  an  open- 
ing of  ways  by  which  the  live  thought  could  reach  out 
and  find  and  use  what  it  wanted,  by  which  his 
spirit  felt  its  infinite  relations  and  its  immortal  life.  Along 
with  his  resolve  to  follow  up  these  experiences, so  long  as 
no  harm  came,  he  had  also  a  strong  wish  to  get  beyond 
the  unconscious  state,  to  know  what  he  said  and  how  he 
was  moved  or  prompted  to  say  it.  He  soon  became 
partly  conscious,  was  convinced  that  some  outside  intelli- 
gence helped  him,  and,  at  last,  reached  a  state  in  which 
in  public  speaking  he  had  full  consciousness  and  normal 
use  of  all  his  powers,  but  at  the  same  time  a  clear  sense 
of  inspiring  help.  Sometimes  he  felt  it  was  some  person 
in  the  spirit  world,  a  heavenly  visitant  helping  him  to 
help  himself,  flooding  his  inner  being  with  light  and 
knowledge  touching  his  lips  as  with  fire  from  heaven's 
altar,  enlarging  his  faculties  to  give  hope  and  strength 
to  their  normal  yet  inspired  exercise.  Sometimes,  with 
no  consciousness  of  any  personal  help,  he  felt  the  tides 
of  universal  and  impersonal  truth  sweep  through  his 
being.  On  some  occasions,  too, he  was  swept  along,  used, 
controlled,  and  guided  in  a  semi-conscious  state,  by  some 
strong  spiritual  personality  whom  he  knew.  Meanwhile 
he  had  private  experiences  of  spirit  presence  and  intelli 
gence  of  clairvoyance,  the  opening  of  the  spiritual  sight 
which  were  fully  convincing  and  of  great  help.  He  read 
in  a  fragmentary  way  and  in  odd  hours,  the  best  thinkers 
in  philosophy  and  science,  made  admirable  notes,  set 
down  "seed  thoughts"  for  essays  nnd  lectures,  but  never 


246  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEl'EiVTy  YEAPS. 

used  note  or  manuscript  in  speaking.  His  aspect  before  an 
audience  was  always  that  of  a  man  possessed  and  inspired, 
whose  impassioned  words  came  like  the  flow  of  a  full 
stream.  His  appeal  was  ever  to  reason,  conscience  and 
intuition,  his  thought  of  mans  infinite  and  divine  relations 
and  sacred  daily  duties,  and  he  emphasized  spirit-pres- 
ence and  the  immortal  life  as  sure  realities.  All  this  I 
gathered  from  our  frequent  talks,  and  from  hearing  his 
discourses. 

Allowing  for  native  genius,and  for  readiness  in  garner- 
ine  knowledge  in  the  usual  wav,  something  more  is 
evident  His  great  attainmeni  ;  his  depth  of  insight ;  his 
wide  range  of  iUtimi-nated  thought;  his  felicity  and  power 
of  expression  ;  -were  results  of  direct  spirit-education,  of  the 
opening  of  his  interior  faculties  and  intuitive  perceptions  by 
celestial  teachers. 

Mark  the  suddenness  of  this  transfiguring  change  and 
its  constant  growth.  While  that  first  unconscious  speech 
was  being  made  he  was  the  same,  yet  not  the  same, as  an 
hour  before.  A  new  influence  had  stirred  his  soul,  a 
great  change  had  come  to  his  thoughts.  Limiting  dog- 
mas were  all  swept  away,  universal  truths  had  taken 
their  place.  It  was  not  theology  with  Methodist  limita- 
tions, but  a  reaching  into  fields  never  before  explored,  the 
sweep  and  power  of  a  larger  utterance,  that  the  group  of 
friends  heard  with  delighted  surprise. 

In  a  single  hour  he  far  transcended  his  former  self, 
and  from  that  hour  the  change  went  on,  with  no  lapse 
backward.but  so  steadily  and  rapidly  that  no  wider  range 
of  reading  or  acquaintance  can  reasonably  account  for  it, 
and  that  hour  was  not  one  of  observation  but  of  introver- 
sion, not  one  of  outward  and  tangible  help,  but  of  inward 
and  spiritual  uplifting  while  the  outer  senses  were  locked 
up.  Many  times  he  was  told  that  spirit  teachers  were 
educating  him,  and  their  work  was  well  and  wisely 
done. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  24- 

Possibly  breaks  may  be  found  in  the  externally  scien- 
tific proofs  of  all  this,  although  they  are  good  of  the  won- 
derful development  But  can  mind  be  measured  by  a 
yardstick,  or  soul  weighed  in  a  balance,  or  seen  under  a 
microscope,  or  tested  in  a  retort?  Most  sapient  scientists, 
your  yardstick  philosophy  is  indequate  in  cases  like  this. 
Your  solemn  head-wagging  over  what  it  will  not  account 
for  begins  to  look  foolish  to  discerning  people.  You  do 
good  work  in  your  way, but  you  cannot  dissect  a  soul  or 
measure  God's  universe.  There  are  several  things  yet 
for  you,  and  for  all  of  us,  to  learn  more  of.  Especially 
do  you  need  to  learn  two  things, — that  celestial  intelli- 
gences can  sometimes  be  our  light-bringers,  and  that  to 
ridicule  or  repudiate  what  you  cannot  understand  is  what 
really  wise  men  never  do. 

Looking  at  the  outward  proofs,  and  at  what  we  know  of 
man's  inner  life  and   of  spirit-intercourse  ;  and  Selden  J. 
Finney's  growth,  opening  so  suddenly  and  peculiarly  and 
going  on  so  grandly,  can  be  rationally  considered  as  a 
case  of  direct  spirit  education. 

How  else  can  it  be  accounted  for? 

The  aim  and  method  of  this  celestial  teaching  varies 
with  temperament,  but  from  before  the  day  when  Paul 
told  of  knowing  a  man,  "  whether  in  the  body  or  out  of  the 
body"  he  knew  not,  and  could  only  say  "God  knoweth," 
"caught  up  into  the  third  heaven"  and,  hearing  "un- 
speakable words,"  to  our  own  time,  it  has  been  a  part  of 
the  divine  order  of  things,  under  the  eternal  laws.  We 
may  all  be  helped,  often  unconsciously,  in  like  way.  In 
special  cases,  like  Finney's,  the  spirit-seers  of  the  higher 
life  may  deem  it  wise  to  train  a  great  soul  to  great  ends. 
In  his  case  the  result — the  great  impress  on  many  minds 
made  by  him — ^justified  their  efforts. 

His  mood  helped  him,  but  his  wise  celestial  teachers 
guided  him  to  its  lofty  and  serene  height.  He  was  true 
and  fearless,  fettered  by  no  superstition,  realized  that  soul- 


240  UFll'A KD  S TEPS  OF  SE VENTY  YEARS. 

knowledge  is  deeper  than  what  the  outer  senses  alone 
can  give,  and  so  M'as  in  that  "superior  condition ''"  in 
which  the  spirit  is  open  to  the  ideas  which  sweep  in  tidal 
waves  through  the  universe. 

Materialism  was,  to  him,  a  fragmentary  absurdity,  and 
agnosticism  the  chill  and  blindness  which  came  from 
standing  in  its  gloomy  shadow. 

Such  was  this  man  as  I  knew  him  for  years.  Failino-  in 
health  he  went,  with  his  good  wife  to  the  mountain 
ranch  of  her  brother  in  California,  rested  and  grew  stron"-, 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  and  then  of  the 
Senate,  made  two  great  speeches  in  the  last  body, one  for 
Woman  Suffrage,  and  one  for  the  Fifteenth  Amendment 
to  our  National  Constitution,  for  which  that  speech  won 
an  unexpected  majority.  His  lifeless  body  was  found 
soon  after,  on  the  ranch,  with  his  gun  by  his  side,  its 
discharge  probably  an  accident.  On  January  13th,  1876, 
the  Senate  heard  a  fit  eulogy  by  his  successor,  Hon.  jNIr. 
Rogers,  and  passed,  by  a  unanimous  rising  vote,  an 
endorsement  of  its  view  of  his  high  character. 

Some  day,  it  is  hoped,  his  fragmentary  writings  may 
be  published.     A  sentence  must  answer  for  the  present  : 

"  The  expanded  earth  and  the  unfolded  heavens  are 
manifestations  of  an  Eternal  Spirit.  The  rocks,  hills, 
valleys,  rivers,  ocean,  and  stars  gleam  with  the  white 
splendors  of  the  Divine  Reason,  The  spiritual  idea  of 
substance  is  arising  from  science.  All  bodies  are  now 
proved  to  be  only  petrified  forms  of  force ;  all  forces  are 
proved,  by  their  mutual  transformality,  to  be  only  modes 
of  the  action  of  some  common,  simple,  homogeneous, 
invisible  or  spiritual  Power ;  and  all  power  is  eternal, 
infinite,  and  divine  ....  The  fraternity  of  souls  and  the 
paternity  of  God  rest,  at  last,  on  the  identity  of  the  original 
substance  of  each  being.  If  human  spirits  are  the  chil- 
dren of  God — if  the  idea  of  the  fatherhood  of  God  be  not 
a  delusion — then  the  substance  of  the  Creator  is  the  foun- 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  249 

*  elation  of  each  soul.  The  identity  of  the  primordial 
essence  of  the  human  and  the  Divine  Spirit  is  the  only- 
logical  basis  ;  and  it  is  on  this  foundation  alone  that 
religion  itself  is  possible." 


"The  glory  of  sun  and  stars  is  eclipsed  by  the  glory  of 

that  reason,  of  that   soul,  that   can    weigh   and   measure 
sun  and  stars." 


REMARKABLE    EXPERIENCE    OF    A    MICHIGAN    PIONEER    AND    RAIL- 
ROAD   BUILDER, 

The  following  narrative  of  a  remarkable  experience,  I 
noted  down  carefully  when  it  was  related  to  me  in  1877, 
by  Henry  Willis,  of  Battle  Creek,  whom  I  had  known  for 
years  as  a  man  of  frank  integrity,  uncommon  energy  in 
business,  practical  sagacity,  and  temperate  Quaker  habits. 
He  came  from  Pennsylvania  to  oversee  the  building  of 
the  Michigan  Central  Railroad,  under  State  authority, 
from  Detroit  to  Ypsilanti,  and  has  been  well  known  in 
this  region  since,  enjoying  a  hale  old  age  until  past 
eighty  years.  Mr.  Baldwin  was  the  first  locomotive  builder 
in  America,  and  gave  name  to  the  great  locomotive  works 
of  Baldwin  &  Co.,  in  Philadelphia.  He  was  a  cordial 
friend  of  Mr,  Willis  all  his  life. 

Obedience  to  the  strange  impulse,  which,  indeed,  he 
could  not  resist,  led  Mr.  Willis  to  save  the  life  of  his 
friend,  and  who  felt  that  he  had  saved  him,  and  became 
still  firmer  in  his  grateful  attachment. 

I  give  the  words  of  Henry  Willis  as  given  to  me  at  his 
house  by  himself.  He  has  seldom  told  this  strange  story, 
and  could  only  be  induced  to  allow  its  publicity  as  a 
possible  help  to  psychologic  research  and  knowledge.  It 
may  help  to  show  how  spirit-influence  is  made  to  serve 
useful  ends  in  life,  sometimes  highly  important  ends.      In 


250  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

emergencies  we  are  helped,    ordinarily  left  to  our  own 
ways,  as  is  surely  best  for  us.      He  said  : 

"In  July,  1838.  Matthias  W.  Baldwin,  of  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  came  with  me  to  Detroit,  intending  to  start  a  branch 
locomotive  building  shop  on  Cass  wharf,  or  river  front 
We  remained  near  three  weeks  in  Detroit  together.  I  was 
at  that  time  engaged  to  build  a  railroad  from  Kalamazoo 
to  Allegan,  of  which  Sydney  Ketchum,  of  Marshall,  was 
President  I  think  it  was  on  a  Thursday  morning  I  left 
my  friend  Baldwin  for  Allegan  ;  he  was  to  leave  on  a 
steamboat  at  ten  o'clock  of  the  same  day  for  Buffalo  and 
home.  As  I  passed  through  Marshall,  Ketchum  re- 
quested me  to  go  to  Sandusky,  O.,  and  purchase  pro- 
visions for  our  railroad  men,  as  there  were  none  to  be  had 
on  our  route,  the  country  being  new.  I  came  on  and 
stopped  at  Battle  Creek  to  visit  On  Saturday  and  Sun- 
day I  became  very  uneasy,  and  was  frequently  asked  if  I 
was  unwell.  On  Monday  morning  I  went  east  with 
some  friends  in  their  carriage,  and  attended  a  Quaker 
quarterly  meeting  at  Richard  Glazier's,  near  Ann  Ar- 
bor. I  was  asked  by  many  if  I  was  unwell.  My  mind 
was  much  depressed,  but  I  bore  up  and  endeavored  to  be 
cheerful,  and  after  meeting  left  for  Sandusky  in  company 
with  friends  living  near  Adrian.  We  spent  that  night  at 
Jacob  Walton's,  and  still  I  was  uneasy,  and  could  not 
imagine  the  cause.  At  Tecumseh  I  stopped  to  take  the 
stage  and  paid  my  fare  to  Sandusky,  Ohio.  The  stage 
drove  up  within  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  of  the  door  of  the 
hotel.  I  handed  the  driver  my  carpet  bag.  three  passen- 
gers were  inside,  and  as  I  put  my  foot  on  the  step  to  get 
in  I  felt  a  heavy  blow  on  the  back  of  my  neck,  and  the 
words  "Go  to  Detroit"  were  as  audibly,  but  inwardly, 
heard  as  I  ever  heard  anything.  I  turned  to  see  who 
struck  me.  No  one  except  the  driver  and  passengers,  all 
before  me,  Avas  nearer  than  the  hotel,  20  feet  off.  I  stood 
astonished,  and  passengers   and   driver  shouted,    "Why 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  25  I 

don't  you  get  aboard."  I  said,  "Driver,  hand  me  my 
bag."  I  took  it,  went  to  the  hotel  and  asked  the  landlord 
who  it  was  that  struck  me  on  the  back  of  my  neck.  "No 
one  was  nearer  you  than  I,  standing  here  in  the  door  ;  I 
saw  you,"  said  he,  "  give  a  bound  as  you  put  your  foot 
on  the  step,  but  no  one  struck  you  I  know,  fori  was  look- 
ing directly  at  you."  "  What  is  the  matter.?  "  he  asked, 
"I  must  go  to  Detroit,"  I  said,  "and  cannot  imagine 
why,  or  for  what  ;  I  have  no  business  there."  The  Chi- 
cago stage  drove  up  in  a  moment  or  two.  I  mounted  the 
seat  with  the  driver,  and  handed  him  50  cents  to  drive  his 
route  as  fast  as  he  could.  I  repeated  it  with  the  next 
driver.  When  we  drove  into  the  upper  end  of  Main 
street  at  Ypsilanti,  I  told  him  to  go  directly  to  the  rail- 
road, not  to  stop  at  the  stage  office,  and  I  would  make  it 
all  right  with  Hawkins,  the  stage  man.  I  felt  as  though 
I  wanted  to  fly,  so  anxious  was  I  to  reach  the  station. 
As  we  turned  out  of  Main  street  I  saw  an  engine  on  the 
track.  The  engineer  said  to  the  fireman,  as  I  afterward 
learned,  "  Let  us  go  ;  we  can't  find  Willis."  The  fireman 
looked  around,  saw  the  stage,  and  said:  "Stop;  Willis 
must  be  in  that  stage."  He  jumped  down,  ran  and  met 
us  some  300  feet  off.  I  knew  him,  and  said  :  "  Why, 
Jack,  what  on  earth  is  the  matter?"  and  he  answered  : 
"Baldwin  fell  down  sick  in  the  hotel  two  or  three  hours 
after  you  left  last  Thursday.  His  great  wish  has  been  to 
have  you  with  him.  We  have  been  out  for  days  to  try 
and  find  you.  This  morning  when  we  left  it  was  doubt- 
ful if  he  lived  till  night."  We  went  to  Detroit  as  fast  as  the 
engine  could  go.  I  ran  to  the  hotel,  near  where  the  Russell 
House  now  stands,  and  as  I  reached  the  head  of  the  stairs 
the  landlord  and  wife,  Mr.  and  ]\Irs.  Wales,  Dr.  Hurd  and 
five  or  six  of  the  servants  were  at  the  door.  Dr.  Hurd 
said  :  "  He  is  gone."  I  pushed  into  the  room,  threw  off 
my  coat  and  applied  my  hands  over  his  head 
and    down    the   sides    of  his    face    and    neck    as    vigor- 


2-2  UP IV A RD  STEPS  OF  SE VENTY  YEA RS. 

ously  as  I  could  for  some  five  or  six  minutes,  when 
he  spoke:  "Henry,  where  have  I  been?  Oh,  how 
much  I  have  wanted  you  with  me  ! "  Dr.  Hurd  said  : 
"  Well,  if  that  is  not  bringing  a  man  to  life  !  "  This 
action  of  mine,  like  magnetizing,  I  cannot  account 
for.  I  never  did  it  before  and  never  saw  it  done.  He  was 
in  a  trance  or  spasm,  but  not  dead.  Dr.  Hurd  told  me 
his  symptoms  were  those  of  a  dying  man.  I  remained 
seven  weeks  with  him,  never  sleeping  in  all  that  time  on 
abed,  except  about  four  or  five  hours  in  Lewis  Cass,  Jr.'s, 
room,  when  C.  C.  Trowbridge  and  Augustus  Porter  re- 
lieved me  one  nisfht.  1  took  him  home  on  a  cot  to  his 
family  in  Philadelphia,  he  not  being  able  to  sit  up 
for  some  eight  or  nine  weeks.  I  think  it  was  in  1844  or 
1845  I  was  at  work  in  my  nursery  of  fruit  trees,  at  Battle 
Creek,  with  my  mind  then,  as  it  often  had  been,  on  this 
strange,  and  to  me  unaccountable  matter; — how  I  was 
some  60  miles  from  Detroit,  going  directly  away  to  the 
South  on  important  business,  and  why  I  should  have 
changed  my  course,  and  a  voice  said  to  me  :  "  The  spirit 
of  Baldwin's  father  was  after  you  to  go  and  save  his  son 
and  take  him  to  his  family."  Down  to  this  time  I  had 
never  told  a  living  being  about  this  singular  affair,  not 
even  Baldwin  himself.  From  the  moment  that  I  was 
thus  notified  in  my  nursery  why  I  went  to  Detroit  I 
ceased  to  wonder,  and  was,  and  still  am,  convinced  that 
there  was  an  invisible  power,  his  father's  spirit,  that  fol- 
lowed me  from  the  time  I  arrived  at  Battle  Creek  until  I 
•  took  Baldwin  to  his  home.  Spiritualism  was  not  thought 
of  at  that  time.  I  had  never  before  been  so  singularly 
uneasy  in  my  mind.  The  instant  I  took  my  carpet-bag 
from  the  driver,  at  Tecumseh,  I  felt  a  relief,  but  was 
exceedingly  anxious  to  proceed  to  Detroit  We  arrived 
at  Ypsilanti  two  or  three  hours  before  the  time  for  the  cars 
to  leave  for  Detroit,  hence  the  strangeness  of  my  anxiety 
to  get  to  the  railroad,  since  I  knew  nothing  of  an  engine 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  253 

being  in  waiting-  for  me,  nor  did  I  think  of  an  engine 
until  we  turned  from  Maine  street  and  saw  it  some  80 
rods  off.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  describe  my  feelings 
during  four  days  and  nights  prior  to  my  yielding  to  go 
to  Detroit,  nor  did  I  even  think  of  Baldwin,  except  to 
suppose  he  was  on  his  way  home.  The  instant  I  gave 
up  to  go  I  felt  greater  relief,  but  was  very  anxious  to  be 
off  as  fast  as  possible. 

LOOKING    BEYOND. 

Early  in  1890,  going  to  Sturgis,  Mich.,  to  the  funeral 
of  my  friend  Mrs.  Jane  M.  Prentiss,  I  learned  from  Mrs. 
Mary  J.  Peck  something  of  the  experiences  of  her  mother's 
last  illness  at  her  house. 

Eighty-one  years  of  age,  with  no  bodily  disease,   bu': 
only  a  weariness  which  led  her  a  few  times  to  murmur. 
"How  long,  O  Lord,  how  long!"  healthful  in  mind  and 
serene  in  soul  she  waited  for  the  change. 

For  weeks  before  it  came  she  had  visions  of  her 
ascended  husband  and  son,  and  of  other  friends,  and  her 
daughter  by  the  bed-side  would  hear  her  quietly  and 
pleasantly  carrying  on  conversations  with  those  wdiom 
none  but  the  mother  could  see.  Occasionally  she  would 
ask:  "  Mother,  who  are  they .?  "  and  rational  and  natural 
answers  were  always  given.  With  all  this  was  no  fancy 
of  a  fevered  brain,  no  excitement,  but  peace  and  cheerful- 
ness, so  that  "grandmother's  room"  was  a  delightful 
place  for  children  and  intimate  friends.  Thus  came  the 
transition — light  and  peace  but  no  fear.  She  had  looked 
across  the  border,  and  her  spiritual  sight  had  been  opened 
as  the  bodily  eyes  grew  dim. 

Such  experiences  are  frequent,  but  these  Avere  rarely 
beautiful  and  instructive. 

Professional  pomposity,  which  fails  to  hide  ignorance, 
exclaims:  "Hallucination!  Breaking  faculties!"  but 
deeper  thought  gives  a  wiser  verdict. 


2  54  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

To  realize  that  the  people  in  the  life  beyond  are  simply- 
living  a  life  like  ours,  but  in  higher  conditions,  rolls  the 
mists  away.  Doubtless  gloom  is  there, — the  gloom  of 
souls  yet  in  the  shadow  of  their  guilt  on  earth,  but  no 
despair  to  which  hope  can  never  come.  The  voices  from 
the  spirit-land  are  human  and  natural,  for  the  only  angels 
are  those  who  were  our  friends  and  kindred  here. 

That  higher  life  we  may  understand  even  less  than 
does  the  poor  Hottentot  our  civilized  ways.  Well  was  it 
said:  "  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  hath 
it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive,"  its  full 
glory.  The  child  here  has  but  faint  conception  of  its 
coming  manhood  or  womanhood.  Birth  is  as  great  a 
mystery  as  death.  Are  there  lying  spirits  t  Yes — those 
trained  in  falsehood  here  and  not  over  their  bad  ways. 
"Try  the  spirits,"  is  good  sense.  Most  of  us,  even  the 
most  sagacious,  have  been  cheated  here.  Do  we  there- 
fore turn  away  from  all  intercourse  with  men,  or  lose  all 
faith  in  them  ?  No,  we  keep  on  putting  faith  in  the  faith- 
ful and  watching  the  untrue.  The  old  magician  claimed 
he  could  call  up  the  dead  to  do  his  will  at  pleasure  ; 
the  spiritualist  quietly  waits  their  coming,  which  is  not 
at  his  pleasure,  or  in  his  power  to  order.  Nor  is  it  always 
in  their  power  to  come,  sometimes  indeed  it  is  impos- 
sible, for  unswerving  laws  must  be  known  and  obeyed, 
and  conditions  observed  more  delicate  than  those  to  which 
any  chemist  here  is  subject. 

FIRST    MESSAGES    AND    RESPONSES. 

It  is  usually  supposed  that  the  first  intelligent  spirit- 
manifestations,  recognized  as  such  in  our  day,  took  place 
at  the  home  of  the  Fox  family,  at  Hydesville,  New  York. 
While  it  is  true  that  the  simple  raps  at  that  place  first  called 
wide  public  attention  to  this  great  matter,  the  first  commu. 
nications  accepted  and  responded  to  came  some  months 


UPWARD  STI PS  OP  SEVENTY  YEARS.  255 

before,  at  the  home  of  Nelson  and  Lucina  Tuttle,  on 
their  farm,  some  five  miles  north-west  of  Byron,  Genesee 
County,  New  York.  I  give  the  facts  as  given  me  by  Mr. 
Tuttle  and  Joseph  C.  Walker,  at  Byron,  in  October,  1875  ; 
and  noted  down  at  that  time. 

One  evening  in  June,    1846,    while  prescribing  for  the 
sick  in  the  mesmeric  state,  Mrs.  Tuttle  stopped  and  said, 
"  I  can  go  no  farther,  "  and  tears  rolled  down  her  checks 
as  she  turned  and  spoke  to  Mr.    Walker.      "  What  I  am 
about  to  relate  you  are  not  prepared  to  understand,   nor 
should  I  be  in  my  usual  state.      For  the  last  few  weeks, 
when  magnetized,  three  spirits  hover  around  me,  urging  me 
to  give  a  communication  for  each  one  of  us.      One  is  your 
father,  one  is  my  husband's   mother,   and  one  my  motli- 
er.     Your  father  comes  first  and  says  :    '  Tell  my  son  Jo- 
seph I  have  stood  by  his  bedside  and  witnessed  his  tears 
of  sorrow  for  the  past  few  nights.     I  say,  Joseph,   stand 
firm  to  what  you  know  to  be  true.     Those  that  are  now 
your  strongest  opposers  will  become  your  warmest  friends. 
[Mr.   W.   had,   unknown  to  any  one,  felt  great  agony  of 
spirit,   having  been  told  that  he   was  '  in   league  with  the 
devil,'  and  questioned  himself  whether  he  should  give  up 
magnetism,  in  accordance  with  the  wish  and  prayer  of  his 
brethren  in  the  Baptist  Church,  or  go   on  his  own  way.] 
Often  when  you,  an  orphan  boy,  have  sat  down  by  the  way- 
side and  wept  because  you  had  no  father  to  direct  and  guide 
you  as  other  boys  had,   you  little  thought  that    I,   your 
spirit-father,   stood  by.       You  well  remember  the  place, 
between  Cleveland  and  Medina,  Ohio,  where  you  were 
in  this  distress,   and  sat  down  on  a  log  by  the  roadside 
in  the  woods  and  wept.     I  was  there  with  you.      [The 
place  and  circumstances  were  correct.]     I  have  been  a 
guardian  angel  to  my  little  ones,   whom  I    left   so   sor- 
rowfully  in  passing  to  my   present  home.     I  have  been 
able  to  inspire  and  control   you   and  keep  you  from  evil. 
I  looked  for  my  Orthodox  heaven    and  hell,  but   did   not 


256  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

find  them  here.  I  have  looked  for  the  Orthodox  devil, 
but  do  not  find  him  in  this  beautiful  clime.  1  have 
not  seen  God  ;  we  can  only  see  Him  in  Nature.  As  1 
unfold  and  develop,  the  Infinite  unfolds  m  equal  ratio," 
He  said  to  his  father,  "  It  will  not  answer  to  tell  of  this."' 
and  the  reply  was,  "  Tell  a  few  friends.now,  if  you  wish, 
but  ere  long  you  can  tell  all,  and  it  will  be  more  common. 
We  here  are  making  suitable  preparations  to  produce 
tangible  demonstrations  to  begin  near  you  and  to  go 
round  the  world."  (Here  is  the  noteworthy  statement  that 
the  people  in  the  higher  life  had  not  yet  completed  prepa- 
rations needed  to  make  deep  and  wide  impression,  but 
would  soon  be  ready  for  that  great  work,  a  statement 
verified  at  Hydesville.)  For  an  hour  or  more  this 
lasted,  until  Mrs.  Tuttle  said  :  "  Your  father  steps  back  to 
give  way  for  others,  joyful  that  he  has  been  able  to  com- 
municate. You  must  call  Mr.  Tuttle  in  (from  the  next 
room)  and  leave  us,  that  his  mother  may  communicate  to 
him."  For  an  hour  that  mother  spoke  to  her  son 
throu"-h  Mrs.  Tuttle.  The  son  had  little  faith  in  a  future 
life,  but  was  convinced  of  his  mother's  presence,  and  wept 
jovful  tears,  as  Walker  had  done  before  him.  Mr.  Walker's 
father  had  been  gone  twenty-five  years. 

Next  came  a  recall  of  Walker,  who  was  directed  to 
take  pencil  and  paper  and  note  down  what  INIrs.  Tuttle's 
mother  would  say  to  her,  that  she  might  read  and  pre- 
serve it  when  in  her  normal  state.  It  was  given  through 
her  interior  senses,  and  she  had  no  external  knowledge 
of  what  was  said  or  done.  •  At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning 
she  was  brought  out  of  the  magnetic  or  clairvoyant  state, 
surprised  at  the  length  of  time  that  had  passed,  asked  what 
had  occurred,  and  was  still  more  surprised  when  told,  and 
wept  over  the  message  from  her  mother  as  she  read  it  from 
the  sheets  written  by  Mr.   Walker  during  its  deliver)\ 

After  this,  Walker  sometimes  communicated  with  his 
father  through  INIrs.  Tuttle,  was  told  that  the  Hydesville 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  257 

rappings  were  produced  by  spirits,  and  if  he  would  go 
there  he  would  convince  him.  He  went,  did  not  tell 
his  name,  saw  Leah  Fish,  {iiee  Fox),  asked  his  father, 
at  the  seance,  "Did  you  ever  communicate  with  me  be- 
fore ? "  and  was  told  by  raps,  spelling  the  alphabet, 
*'  My  son,  you  well  remember  the  night  I  communicated 
to  you  through  Lucina. " 

For  more  than  a  year  after  these  earliest  messages,  no 
one  knew  of  them  outside  the  family  save  a  brother  of 
Mrs.  Tuttle,  who  was  told  the  next  day,  came  to  the  house 
at  night  and  had  a  convincing  message  from  his  mother. 


FUTURE    LIFE    NATURAL. 

In  his  "Conflict  of  Science  and  Religion,"  Draper  says  : 
— "That  the  spirits  of  the  dead  revisit  the  living,  has 
been,  in  all  ages,  in  all  European  countries,  a  fixed  belief, 
not  confined  to  rustics,  but  participated  in  by  the  intel- 
ligent. If  human  testimony  can  be  of  any  value, 
there  is  a  body  of  evidence  reaching  from  the  remotest 
ages  to  the  present  time,  as  extensive  and  unimpeach- 
able as  is  to  be  found  in  support  of  anything  whatever, 
that  these  shades  of  the  dead  do  return." 

How  shallow  the  learned  ignorance  of  grave  books  we 
read,  treating  all  these  facts  and  ideas  as  "survivals  of 
savage  thought  I  "  In  the  childhood  of  man  that  savage 
thought  was  but  the  instinctive  germ  reaching  toward  the 
light.  Modern  thought,  in  the  same  line,  is  that  germ 
growing  to  new  beauty  and  reaching  toward  the  fruitage 
of  a  riper  spiritual  age  to  come. 

In  their  higher  forms,  spirit  manifestation  and  com- 
munion come  to  man  in  his  finest  and  most  harmonious 
development,  and  in  this  last  and  ripest  of  the  centuries 
we  have  them  as  never  before. 

The  soul  asserts  its  immortality  !  Well  said  the  old 
poet : 

I" 


258  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

"  We  feele  within  this  fleshlie  dresse, 
Bright  shootes  of  everlastingnesse." 

That  intuitive  assertion  is  emphasized  by  "  the  touch  of 
a  vanished  hand,'  giving  a  new  sense  of  the  naturahiess 
of  the  future  life.  In  one  of  her  letters,  EHzabeth  Barrett 
Browning,  who  was  deeply  interested  in  these  things 
of  the  spirit,  said  : 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  a  nearer  insight  into  the  spiritual 
world  has  been  granted  to  this  generation,  so  that  (by 
whatever  process  we  ^qX.  our  conviction)  we  no  longer 
deal  with  vague  abstractions,  half  closed,  half  shadowy, 
in  thinking  of  departed  souls.  There  is  now  something 
warm  and  still  familiar  in  those  beloveds  of  ours,  to  whom 
we  yearn  out  past  the  grave — not  cold  and  ghostly  as 
they  seemed  once — but  human,  sympathetic,  with  well- 
known  faces.  They  are  not  lost  utterly  to  us  even  on 
earth  ;  a  little  farther  off,  and  that  is  all." 

Shakespeare  gives  the  old  dread  and  terror  when  he 
says  : 

"  It  is  the  very  witching  time  of  night 
When  churchyards  yawn,  and  hell  itself  breathes  out 
Contagion  to  the  world  !  " 

In  place  of  this  is  coming  the  sweet  and  sacred 
feeling  of  the  lover  and  husband,  described  by  that  spirit- 
ually-gifted poet, Edwin  Arnold  ; 

'' '  She  is  dead  ! '  they  said  to  him.     '  Come  away  ; 
Kiss  her  and  leave  her — thy  love  is  clay.' 


And  they  held  their  breaths,  as  they  left  the  room 

With  a  shudder,  to  glance  at  its  stillness  and  gloom. 

But  he  who  loved  her  too  well  to  dread 

The  siveei,  the  stately,  the  beautiful  dead, — 

He  lit  his  lamp  and  took  his  key 

And  turned  it, — alone,  were  he  and  she." 


UP  WA  KD  S  TEPS  OF  SE  VENTY  YEA  KS.  259 

It  is  a  theory  of  some  writer  that  invisible  currents 
sweep  through  the  upper  air  like  great  rivers,  carrying  the 
tmer  elements  of  tree  and  flower  and  earth  far  into  the 
blue  empyrean  to  build  the  spirit-world  where  are  "  the 
many  mansions  "  we  are  to  occupy.  Of  this  I  know  not, 
but  is  this  theory  any  more  wonderful,  or  any  more 
matter  of  ridicule,  than  the  fact,  which  every  naturalist 
admits,  that  an  invisible  force  pushes  the  sap  each  spring 
up  the  trunk  of  a  tree  and  out  to  its  finest  topmost  twigs 
to  renew  and  freshen  their  growth?  All  the  thousands 
who  purport  to  come  back  to  us  tell  of  a  real  world  and  a 
natural  life  "over  there,"  wezier  of  disembodied  shades, 
but  always  of  human  form,  not  corruptible  or  subject  to 
decay.  They  tell  us  too  of  tastes  and  occupations  like 
ours,  only  higher,  as  the  man  is  above  the  child. 

Primitive  Christianity  was  a  great  spiritual  revival ; 
every  leading  phase  of  modern  spiritualism  only  dupli- 
cates the  gifts  of  healing  and  prophecy,  the  help  of 
angels,  the  speaking  with  tongues  and  the  like  in  the  New 
Testament.  The  resurrection  of  Christ,  the  rock  on  which 
apostles  and  disciples  stood,  has  been  many  times  dupli- 
cated by  resurrections,  or  reappearances,  brief  as  was  that 
of  Jesus,  which  was  repeated  several  times,  if  the  record 
be  true.  The  early  Christians  had  a  deep  assurance  of 
immortality,  not  so  often  found  to-day  outside  of  spirit- 
ualists, and  which  is  the  great  need  of  the  world.  Our 
"modern  thought, "  shallow  and  of  the  outer  shell  of 
things,  has  taken  away  the  old  foundations  of  faith,  and 
gives  us  no  food  for  the  soul  in  their  place.  Those 
facts  and  experiences  of  primitive  Christianity  and  these 
of  modern  spiritualism  must  be  accepted  together,  with 
rational  discrimination  as  to  their  genuineness,  not  as 
miracles  but  as  signs  of  light  from  the  spirit-world,  or 
they  must  be  discarded  together  as  wild  delusions,  empty 
as  the  whistling  wind. 


26o             UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 
MEDIUMSHIP ILLUMINATION. 

Mediumship  is  not  a  miraculous  gift,  but  a  susceptibility 
delicate  to  surrounding  influences  and  yielding  to  their 
impressions,  which  is  marked  in  certain  temperaments, 
and  of  which  none  of  us  are  totally  destitute.  The 
passive  medium  can  be  psychologized  and  controlled  by 
some  positive  and  strong  spirit,  as  the  masterful  will  of 
the  psychologist  here  controls  his  negative  subject. 

The  true  and  self-poised  medium  deserves  an  appre- 
ciative respect  not  often  accorded,  but  which  will  come 
with  better  comprehension  of  our  inner  life.  Only  as  we 
know  more  of  the  life  within,  and  seek  its  development, 
can  we  know  most  and  best  of  the  life  beyond. 

There  is,  too,  an  illuminated  and  open  vision  without 
spirit-control,  a  clairvoyant  seership  before  which  the 
spirit-world  and  the  life  of  persons  around  us  here,  lies 
open.  This  precious  superior  condition  may  come  to  us 
as  the  high  result  of  pure  life  and  spiritual  culture. 

Mediumship,  especially  when  professional  and  public, 
has  its  trials  and  perils.  A  sensitive  person,  meeting  all 
kinds  of  people,  and  influenced  by  spirits  of  all  degrees, 
is  liable  to  be  sorely  taxed.  All  are  not  wise  enough  to 
be  receptive  of  the  good  and  repellant  of  the  evil  and 
unwise. 

To  be  blindly  passive  and  negative,  and  not  cultivate 
mind  and  will,  or  exercise  judgment,  leads  to  inane  weak- 
ness. The  best  mediums  pray  in  spirit  for  normal 
growth, — for  interior  illumination  and  self-culture,  for 
help  to  help  themselves,  for  the  opening  of  their  own 
spirit-sight,  and  so  gain  health  of  body  and  mind.  Public 
mediumship  has  been  indispensable  and  valuable,  and  is 
still  needed,  but  private  mediumship  has  marked  advan- 
tages in  harmony  and  safety,  and  is  more  common  than 
is  supposed.  I  have  witnessed  beautiful  manifestations 
in   happy   homes.     Spirit  communion  is    normal  to    the 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YE  A  PS.  26 1 

open  soul,  and  its  hig-hest  conditions  are  in  the  sacred 
atmosphere  of  home  and  friends. 

We  are  immortal  beings,  in  the  eternal  life  now,  and 
beyond  the  tomb  is  but  the  higher  stag-e  of  that  life.  l"he 
denizens  of  the  spirit-world  no  doubt  help  us  at  times 
when  we  are  unconscious  of  their  presence.  What  joy- 
must  it  be  to  them  to  give  us  light  and  strength  in  our 
trials,  or  guidance  in  our  noblest  efforts  ? 

With  Lowell  : 

« '  We  see  but  half  the  causes  of  our  deeds, 
Seeking  them  wholly  in  the  outer  world, 
Unconscious  of  the  spirit-world  which,  though 
Unseen  is  felt,  and  sows  in  us  the  germs 
Of  pure  and  world-wide  purposes." 

To  make  such  help  from  high  heaven  appear  real  and 
natural  and  a  part  of  the  Divine  economy  is  the  work 
of  spiritualism.  Whoever  under  pretence  of  medium- 
ship,  "steals  the  livery  of  the  court  of  heaven  to  serve 
the  devil  in,"  must  be  sent  into  private  life  for  sorely 
needed  reform. 

It  is  said  that  many  so  called  spirit-messages  are  com- 
monplace and  inconsequent.  Is  the  least  sign  of  the 
presence  of  a  departed  friend  trivial  ?  The  opening  of 
what  may  be  a  deeply  important  conversation  is  usually 
inconsequent.  If  these  flippant  investigators  would  wait 
and  seek  for  deeper  things,  they  might  come,  as  they  have 
to  many;  for  messages  of  great  importance,  involving 
life  and  fortune  and  the  affairs  of  nations,  are  on  record. 
Was  the  saving  of  the  valuable  life  of  Matthias  Baldwin, 
by  the  following  of  spirit-guidance  by  Henry  Willis,  as 
told  on  another  page  of  this  chapter,  inconsequent  ? 

RELIGION    AND    MORALS. 

In  1880,  G.  W.  Wyld,  M.D.,  an  able  Englishman, 
wrote:  "I  believe  that  the  philosophy  and  phenomena 
of  Spiritualism   arc  destined   to  remould  science,  philos- 


2  62  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

ophy,  psychology,  and  dogmatic  theology  from  their  very 
foundations.  .  .  .  Phenomena  which  occur  in  the  pre- 
sence of  believers  can,  in  five  minutes,  refute  the  material 
philosophy  of  thousands  of  years.  .  .  .  Although  to 
me  chiefly  interesting  in  a  psychologic  and  scientitic 
,  point  of  view  it  must  in  a  religious  point  of  view  be 
regarded  with  profoundest  respect.  .  .  .  because,  if  we 
contemplate  the  subject  in  its  relation  to  matter  we  at 
once  arrive  at  the  conviction  that  materialism  is  a  vulgar 
superstition.  Yet  this  materialism  is  the  outcome  of  the 
science  of  the  19th  century  !  " 

The  religious  opinions  of  Theodore  Parker,  the  intuitive 
morals  of  Frances  Power  Cobbe,  the  transcendental  views 
of  R.  W.  Emerson,  are  in  unison  with  the  habits  of  thought 
of  many  intelligent  spiritualists.  While  they  may  think 
that  these  gifted  persons  would  have  gained  in  depth 
and  clearness  of  thought  by  a  knowledge  and  acceptance 
of  spirit  manifestations,  and  of  the  views  to  which  they 
lead,  they  find  much  in  common  with  them,  and  are 
helped  by  their  wise  utterances.  The  transcendentalist 
would  say  immortality  is  a  truth  of  the  soul  ;  the  spiri- 
tualist would  grant  that,  but  would  verify  that  truth  by 
the  testimony  of  the  senses. 

Spiritualists  are  a  large  company,  millions  of  thinkers 
in  as  well  as  out  of  the  churches,  with  little  organization 
and  only  agreeing  on  their  one  central  idea,  the  im- 
mortal life  proved  by  spirit  presence. 

That  idea  carries  much  else  with  it,  and  is  spreading 
round  the  world.  It  is  remarkable  that  with  little  discus- 
sion, almost  all  spiritualists  favor  the  equal  rights  of 
woman,  and  the  most  intelligent  are  most  earnest  in 
behalf  of  this  great  reform. 

INDUCTIVE    SCIENCE    BLIND. 

The  attitude  and  spirit  of  many  inductive  scientists — an 
attitude  slowly  changing — may  be  seen  by  this  extract 


UP  WA  RD  S  TEPS  OF  SE  VENTY  YEA  PS.  263 

from  a  Popular  Science  Monthly  editorial  a  few  years  a<^o. 

"The  first  article  of  a  scientific  man's  faith  is  that 
Nature  never  breaks  her  regularities,  but  holds  true  to  an 
unalterable  method  of  law. 

"Now,  the  Spiritualist  comes  to  him  challenging-his  first 
principles.  He  denies  his  order  of  Nature  as  being  un- 
alterable and  says  that  he  knows  of  that  which  is  above 
Nature,  that  is  greater  than  Nature,  that  interferes  with  it 
and  breaches  all  its  vaunted  stabilities  with  infinite  ease." 

No  inquisitor  of  old  Spain,  no  bigot,  from  the  days  of 
Cotton  Mather  and  his  witches  to  our  own,  has  written 
anything  more  utterly  contrary  to  the  truth  than  this. 

No  jot  or  tittle  of  evidence  does  it  rest  on.  Not  a 
writer  or  speaker  of  any  repute  among  the  spiritu- 
alists has  ever  denied  the  "order  of  nature  as  beins: 
unalterable, "  but  one  and  all  have  affirmed  that  great 
truth.  It  is  a  cardinal  principle  of  their  philosophy,  and  the 
facts  of  spirit-power  and  presence  they  always  describe 
as  natural. 

Does  the  Science  Monihly  know  the  whole  order  of 
nature  ?  It  is  surely  a  matter  of  regret  that  a  magazine  of 
such  real  merit  should  adopt  a  method  so  unscientific  as 
well  as  so  unfair.  In  a  day  not  far  distant  it  will  look 
back  with  regretful  shame  on  its  error.  That  error  comes 
from  the  constant  use  of  the  analytic  method  in  the  study 
of  material  things.  Intuition  and  the  spiritual  faculties 
are  dwarfed,  there  is  no  harmony  of  development,  the 
capacity  to  see  the  whole  truth  is  lost. 


264  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS, 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

PSYCHIC  SCIENCE. 

"  Beyond  the  dim  and  distant  line. 

Which  bounds  the  vision  of  to-day. 
Great  stars  of  truth  shall  rise  and  shine, 
With  steady  and  luiclouded  ray." 

Lizzie  Doten. 

We  are  entering  on  a  new  era.  The  future  historian  will 
mark  the  closing-  century  as  the  era  of  intellectual  freedom 
and  activity,  of  opening  spiritual  light, of  material  develop- 
ment and  inventive  genius;  and  the  century  now  opening 
as  the  era  of  spiritual  culture,  psychic  science  and  research, 
and  the  harmonious  development  of  man. 

"First  the  natural  (or  material)  and  then  the  spiritual," 
was  the  wise  word  of  the  Apostle.  To  know  the  inner 
iife  of  man  is  to  know  his  immortality,  the  inner  life  of 
nature  and  the  being  of  God. 

This  psychic  research  gives  us  proofs  of  man's  in- 
terior powers  and  infinite  relations — of  magnetism,  clair- 
voyance, psychometry  ;  the  subtle  and  penetrative  in- 
fluence of  mind  ;  the  wonders  of  that  inner  life  of  which 
the  world  has  known  so  little,  but  which  is  now  being 
studied  and  revealed  as  never  before. 

THE    SPIRITUAL    BODY. 

Spiritual  science  and  psycho-physiological  research 
show  us  that  the  life  and  thought  of  man  inhere  in  an  in- 
terior and  lasting  organization  a  fine  bodv  of  a  substance 
invisible  and  super-physical,  not  in  any  gland  or  tissue  or 
structure  that  death  can  dissolve.  This  is  of  the  highest 
importance. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  265 

The  spiritual  body  which  Paul  tells  of  is  the  fact  of 
modern  research.  With  it  our  personality  is  not  lost  by 
bodily  death.  We  cannot  be  anything  but  ourselves  after 
that  event,  any  more  than  now.  We  shall  not  be  formless 
and  disembodied  shadows.  We  cannot  die.  Paul  says, 
"  Although  the  outer  man  perish,  the  inner  man  is  renewed 
day  by  day  ;  "  suggesting  the  thought  of  an  imperishable 
form  within   "  the  outer  man." 

On  this  matter  a  single  testimony  must  suffice.  Miss 
Myra  Carpenter,  a  woman  of  capacity  and  character, 
writes  of  her  mother's  transition,  as  she  saw  itclairvoyantly. 
The  mother  had  no  fear  of  her  coming  change  and  wished 
the  daughter  to  witness  it.      Miss  Carpenter  writes  : 

"  Her  last  words  were  to  me.  Sitting  in  her  room  I 
soon  become  clairvoyant,  when  the  painful  scene  of  a 
mother's  death  was  changed  to  a  vision  of  glory.  Beauti- 
ful angelic  spirits  were  watching  over  her.  I  could  feel 
them  as  material,  and  yet  they  conveyed  a  sensation  which 
I  can  only  describe  by  saying  it  was  like  compressed  air. 
They  stood  at  her  head  and  feet  and  hovered  over  her. 
They  did  not  appear  with  wings,  as  angels  are  commonly 
painted,  but  in  the  perfect  human  form,  so  pure  and  full  of 
love,  it  was  sweet  to  look  at  them. 

' '  I  now  turned  my  attention  more  directly  to  my  mother, 
and  saw  the  external  senses  leave  her.  First  the  power  of 
sight  departed,  and  then  a  veil  seemed  to  drop  over  the 
eyes  :  and  hearing  ceased,  and  next  the  sense  of  feeling. 
The  spirit  began  to  leave  the  limbs,  as  they  die  first  :  and 
the  light  that  filled  every  fibre  of  each  part  drew  up  tow- 
ard the  chest.  As  fast  as  this,  occurred  a  veil  seemed  to 
drop  over  the  part  from  whence  spiritual  life  was  removed. 
A  ball  of  light  was  now  gathering  just  over  her  head  :  and 
this  increased  so  long  as  the  spirit  was  connected  with  the 
body.  The  light  left  the  brain  last,  and  then  the  silver 
cord  (connecting  that  light  over  the  head  with  the  body) 
was    loosed.       The    luminous    appearance  soon    began 


266  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

to  assume  the  human  form ;  and  I  could  see  my  mother 
again  !  But  how  changed  !  She  was  light  and  glorious, 
free  from  disease  and  pain  and  death.  She  seemed  to  be 
welcomed  by  the  attending  spirits  with  the  joy  of  a  mother 
over  the  birth  of  a  child.  She  paid  no  attention  to  any 
earthly  object,  but  joined  her  companions  and  they  seemed 
to  go  through  the  air.  I  tried  to  follow  them,  in  the  spirit, 
for  I  longed  to  go  with  my  mother.  I  saw  them  ascend 
until  they  seemed  to  pass  through  an  open  space,  when  a 
mist  passed  over  my  eyes  and  I  saw  them  no  more.  I 
soon  awoke — but  not  to  sorrow,  as  those  who  have  no 
hope.  This  vision,  far  more  beautiful  than  language  can 
express,  remains  stamped  upon  my  memory.  It  is  an 
unfailing  comfort." 

In  the  Plymouth  Church  pulpit,  so  long  occupied  by 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  Joseph  Cook,  the  widely  known 
lecturer,  gave  the  following  facts  as  proofs  of  a  futuie  life. 

"  Louisa  May  Alcott,  watching  with  her  mother  by  the 
deathbed  of  a  dying  and  dearly  loved  sister  says  when 
the  end  came,  she  distinctly  saw  a  delicate  mist  rising 
from  the  dead  body.  Her  mother  too  saw  this  strange 
thing.  When  they  asked  the  physician  about  it  he  said, 
'  You  saw  life  departing  visibly  from  the  physical  form. ' 
This  was  at  Concord,  Mass. 

"  Professor  Hitchcock,  of  Amherst  College,  Mass., 
says  he  was  present  at  the  bedside  of  a  dying  friend. 
The  eyes  closed ;  the  last  breath  ceased  :  he  was  dead. 
Suddenly  the  eyes  opened,  light  came  back  to  them, 
then  a  look  of  surprise,  admiration,  inexpressible  bliss  ; 
'  then  it  soon  passed  away. 

' '  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  in  the  preface  to  a  book  on 
visions,  says  that  once,  watching  by  a  deathbed,  the  im- 
pression was  conveyed  to  him  that  something — that  is  the 
word  he  uses — passed  from  the  body  into  space." 

In  their  withdrawal  from  all  attention  to  other  objects  or 
affairs,  and  the  concentration  of  thought  and  sympathy  as 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SF.VFNTY  YEARS.  267 

well  as  sight,  on  their  dying-  kindred  and  friends,  these 
competent  witnesses  became  partly  clairvoyant,  and  saw- 
imperfectly  what  Miss  Carpenter  saw  more  clearly,  the 
separation  of  the  spiritual  body  from  the  dying  physical 
form. 

A  few  years  ago  I  received  a  letter  from  an  accomplished 
and  sensible  woman,  telling  of  her  husbands  peaceful 
death.  Two  of  the  daughters  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  bed 
and  both  saw,  as  they  said,  the  "face  illuminated — a  pure 
white  light  from  within,"  at  the  last  moment  fading  away, 
soon,  but  not  suddenly. 

PAINLESS  SURGERY  IN  BYRON,   NEW  YORK. 

An  appreciative  knowledge  and  use  of  unseen  healing 
agencies  will  assuage,  and  even  sometimes  banish,  the 
pains  of  the  body. 

"The  gift  of  healing,"  by  the  laying  on  of  hands,  is  not 
miraculous,  and  it  still  endures,  for  natural  law  is  never 
suspended.  The  following  remarkable  narrative  illustrates 
this  : 

Mrs.  Lucina  Tuttle  and  her  husband  Nelson  Tuttle,  of 
Byron,  Genesee  County,  New  York,  I  knew  well,  as  I  did 
Joseph  C.  Walker,  and  J.  W.  Seaver,  a  merchant  in  Byron. 
From   these  competent  persons  I  had  the  report  of  the 
surgical   operation  which  they  all  witnessed,  as  follows  : 

Early  in  1846,  Joseph  C.  Walker  taught  school  in  the 
district  where  the  Tuttles  lived,  and  magnetized  Mrs. 
Tuttle  several  times  to  cure  the  pain  caused  by  a  tumor 
on  her  left  shoulder,  and  to  prepare  her  for  its  removal  by 
a  surgeon.  About  the  middle  of  February,  at  noon,  Dr. 
J.  M.  Cole,  of  Batavia,  N.  Y. ,  J.  W.  Seaver,  and  a  medi- 
cal student  came  to  the  house.  Mrs.  Tuttle  was  mag- 
netized by  Mr.  Walker  two  hours  before  the  operation. 
The  tumor,  tv^'o  and  a  half  by  three  inches  in  size,  was 
cut  from  its  adhesion  to  the  bone  and  taken  out  through 


268  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

an  incision  six  inches  in  length  made  in  the  flesh  for  that 
purpose,  the  patient,  meanwhile,  sitting  quiet,  outwardly 
unconscious,   no  tremor  of  pulse  or  nerve,   no  flush  in 
the  face,   no  change    in  her  respiration,   no    pain  !     For 
three  hours  afterward  she  was  kept  in  the  same  state,  and 
when  awakened,  by  the  usual  reverse  or  upward  passes, 
had  her  first  outward  knowledge  of  the  operation.     While 
it  was  going  on,  however,  she  saw  it  clatrvqyanily,  quietly 
described  its  progress,  and  told  of  its  termination.      Then 
and  previously  she  described  the  tumor,   as  adhering  to 
the  bone.     The  surgeons  thought  otherwise,  but  acknowl- 
edged that  the  result  proved  her   right,  while  they  had 
been  mistaken.     Afterward  the  arm  was  kept  magnetized 
part  of  the  time  to  aid  its  cure,  which  was  speedy  and 
permanent.       Mrs.  Tuttle  recovered  from    symptoms  of 
consumption,   grew   robust,  and  enjoyed  thirty  years  of 
busy  and  laborious  life,  in  good  health,  save  a  slight  deli- 
cacy of  the  lungs.       This   remarkable  experience  led  to 
describing  and   prescribing  for  her  friends,  and  ere  long 
to  a  large  medical  practice,  which  came  to  her  without 
any  effort  or  advertising  on  her  part. 

Such  facts  are  timely  in  these  hypnotic  days,— hypno- 
tism being  but  another  name  for  mesmerism  or  magnetism 
in  certain  forms.  They  will  help  to  keep  the  underlying 
truth,  and  to  sift  out  what  is  absurd  in  Christian  Science 
and  other  like  theories. 

Sometimes  the  invisible  healers  in  the  spirit-world, 
psychologize  the  visible  magnetizer  here,  flooding  his 
whole  system  with  a  health-giving  and  positive  magnet- 
'■'  ism,  which  he  imparts  to  others,  and  which  conquers  pain, 
and  opens  the  way  for  that  balance  of  circulation  which  is 
health. 

PSYCHOMETRY. 

Mrs.  S.  and  myself  had  visited  the  plaster  beds  at  Grand 
Rapids,   and  called   at    Lyons  on   our   homeward  way. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  269 

Spending-  an  evening  with  Dr.  Jewett  and  wife,  she  gave 
fine  ilkistrations  of  her  psychometric  power.  I  stepped 
across  the  road  and  took  from  our  trunk,  wrapped  in  paper, 
what  I  supposed  was  a  piece  of  gypsum  from  the  Grand 
Rapids  beds.  She  held  it  to  her  forehead  a  few  moments 
and  began  to  tell  its  history.  My  mind  went  back 
to  the  beds  from  whence  I  supposed  it  came,  but 
her  description  went  another  way.  Evidently  she  was 
not  influenced  by  me,  but  was  reading  the  record  of  the 
stone  she  held  wrapped  in  paper.  She  described  the  slow 
formation  of  a  geode,  or  crystal,  and  its  final  location 
beneath  rushing  water.  This  puzzled  us,until  I  took  off 
the  wrapper  and  found  I  had  given  her  a  WmesXoue  geode 
taken  from  beneath  the  Grand  River  !  Nature's  inner 
history  was  an  open  volume  to  her. 

Forty  years  ago  I  wrote  to  J.  R.  Buchanan  at  Cincinnati, 
subscribing  for  h.\s  Journal  o/" Man  and  expressing  interest 
in  his  psychometric  researches.  We  were  strangers  and  I 
had  never  written  him.  He  sent  a  reply  which  enclosed 
a  description  of  my  character,  given  by  a  young  man, 
also  a  stranger,  after  quietly  holding  my  letter,  which  he 
did  not  read,  on  his  forehead, — he  in  a  normal  state  at  the 
time.  The  description  was  singularly  correct  as  to  lead- 
ing- traits.  Like  experiments  of  my  valued  friend, 
William  Denton,  were  of  signal  value. 


INSPIRED    EXPERIENCES. 

"  Hour  after  hour,  like  an  opening  flower, 
Shall  truth  after  truth  expand  ; 
The  sun  may  grow  pale,  and  the  stars  my  fail, 
But  the  purpose  of  God  shall  stand." — Lizzie  Dot  en. 

Very  interesting  and  suggestive  are  the  psychological 
experiences  of  gifted  writers  and  speakers,  rising  to  a 
superior  condition  in  their  best  efforts,  receptive  of  im- 
personal truths  and  susceptible  to  all  spiritual  influences. 


270 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


Georg-e  Eliot  began  her  story-writing  with  doubt  and 
fear.     She  wrote  a  friend  : 

"Mr.  Lewes  began  to  say  very  positively,  'You  must 
try  and  write  a  story,'  and  at  Tenby  he  urged  me  to  begin 
at  once.  One  morning,  as  I  was  thinking  what  should  be 
the  subject  of  my  story,  my  thoughts  merged  themselves 
into  a  dreamy  doze,  and  I  imagined  myself  writing  a  story 
of  which  the  title  was,  "The  Sad  Fortunes  of  the  Rev. 
Amos  Barton."  I  was  soon  wide  awake  again,  and  told 
G.  He  said:  "Oh!  what  a  capital  title  !  "  From  that  time 
I  had  settled  in  my  mind  that  this  should  be  my  first  story." 

It  was  soon  written,  and  its  success  opened  the  way  for 
others.      Mr.  Cross  says  : 

"  During  our  short  married  life  our  time  was  so  much 
divided  between  travel  and  illness,  that  she  wrote  very 
little,  so  that  I  have  but  slight  personal  experience  of  how 
the  creative  effort  affected  her.  But  she  told  me  that,  in 
all  that  she  considered  her  best  writing,  there  was  a  'not 
herself  which  took  possession  of  her,  and  that  she  felt 
her  own  personality  to  be  merely  the  instrument  through 
which  this  spirit,  as  it  were,  was  acting.  Particularly  she 
dwelt  on  this  in  regard  to  the  scene  in  Middlemarch  be- 
tween Dorothea  and  Rosamond." 

This  "dreamy  doze,"  and  the  feeling  that  her  own 
personality  was  "  merely  the  instrument  "  of  "  this  spirit, " 
indicate  the  impressible  temperament  susceptible  of 
spiritual  influx  and  illumination,  combined,  in  her  case, 
with  mental  powers  of  singular  clearness  and  force,  and 
with  high  moral  qualities. 

Helen  Hunt  Jackson  wrote  the  editor  of  Tlie  Outing, 
in  which  her  last  poem,  "The  Rose  Leaf"  was  pub- 
lished :  "It  was  actually  dreamed,  so  that  I  awoke  with 
it  on  my  lips.'  Of  her  Indian  story,  Ramona,she  said  : 
"  It  was  written  through  me,  not  by  me." 

But  a  few  days  before  her  departure  she  wrote:  "I 
want  you  to  know  that  I  am  looking  with  almost  an  eager 


,  ) 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVEiXTY  YEARS.  27 1 

interest  into  that  'undiscovered  country.'  ...  I  do  not 
doul)t  we  shall  keep  on  working.  Any  other  existence 
is,  to  me,  monstrous.  It  seems  to  me  also  impossible 
that  we  shall  not  be  able  to  return  to  this  earth  and  see 
our  loved  ones.  Whether  we  can  communicate  with 
them  I  doubt,  but  that  we  shall  see  them  I  believe." 

PROF.     CALVIN    E.    STOWE, 

From  the  late  biography  of  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe 
by  Florine  T.  McCray  these  extracts  touching  the  psychic 
experiences  of  her  husband  are  given  : 

"The  fact  that  Mrs.  Stowe  wrote  to  George  Eliot,  with 
whom  she  entered  into  an  interesting  correspondence 
at  about  this  period,  that  Professor  Stowe  was  the  'vision- 
ary boy,'  whom  she  made  the  hero  of  'Old  Town  Folks, 
and  that  the  experiences  which  she  related  were  phenom 
ena  of  frequent  occurrence  with  him,  and  had  been  so 
even  from  his  earliest  childhood,  makes  relevant  a  notice 
of  some  of  the  psychological  conditions  which  were  pecul- 
iar to  the  scholarly  man,  one  who  was  by  temperament 
and  trend  of  mind  as  far  as  possible  from  the  credulity  or 
hallucination  commonly  attributed  to  believers  in  mani- 
festations that  appear  to  be  supernatural. 

"  Certain  it  is  that  Professor  Stowe  came  into  the  world 
possessed  of  an  uncommon  attribute,  which  may  be 
considered  either  as  a  sixth  sense  revealing  hidden 
things,  or  as  peculiar  hallucination.  The  latter  con- 
clusion is  hardly  compatible  with  his  clear  mentality  and 
the  sound  judgment  which  he  brought  to  bear  upon  this 
phenomenon  itself,  no  less  than  upon  all  other  topics. 

"As  a  near-sighted  child  sooner  or  later  becomes  aware 
that  it  is  wanting  in  the  far  sight  which  is  common,  so 
Calvin  E.  Stowe  early  inferred  that  his  friends  could  not 
see  absent  things  and  departed  souls  as  he  did,  and  he 
became,  as  a  young  man,  somewhat  in  awe  of  his  power 
and  loth  to  speak  of  it. 


2  72  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

"In  common  with  most  other  intelligent  people,  and 
especially  so  because  of  his  strange  experience,  Professor 
and  Mrs.  Stowe  became  deeply  interested  in  psychologi- 
cal manifestations,  and  with  friends  they  evoked  surpris- 
ing manifestations  from"  Planchette,"and  attended  various 
so-called  spiritualistic  seances  in  New  York.  While  in 
Rome,  Mrs.  Stowe,  in  company  with  Elizabeth  Barrett 
Browning  and  others,  received  some  surprising  evidences 
of  things  occult  and  strange. 

"Mrs.  Stowe  most  feelingly  interpreted  the  wave  of 
Spiritualism,  then  rushing  over  America,  as  a  sort  of 
Rachel-cry  of  bereavement  towards  the  invisible  existence 
of  the  loved  ones  ;  but  her  mature  judgment,  like  that  of 
her  husband's,  was  against  the  value  of  mediumistic 
testimonies. 

"  Professor  Stowe  also  recounted  to  a  friend  an  inter- 
view which  he  declared  he  had  with  Goethe,  one  day  out 
under  the  trees.  He  intensely  enjoyed  the  discussion 
with  the  great  mind  of  the  German  Shakespeare,  and 
reported  a  most  interesting  explanation  which  the  author  of 
Faust  gave  of  the  celebrated  closing  lines  of  the  second 
part  of  that  great  work  : — 

"  All  of  mortality  is  but  a  symbol  shown. 
Here  to  reality  longings  have  grown  ; 
How  superhumanly  wondrous,  'tis  done. 
The  eternal,  the  womanly  love  leads  us  on." 

It  may  be  suggested  that  not  to  believe  in  Spiritualism, 
yet  to  see  and  converse  with  spirits  is  singular;  but  these 
excellent  persons  had  their  own  reasons — good  to  them — 
the  psychic  facts  are  what  we  want. 

The  New  York  Independeiit,  in  a  notice  of  Mrs.  Stowe's 
life  by  her  son,  says  : 

"Impressive  is  the  story  how  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
came  upon  her  as  she  sat  at  Communion  service  in  the 
college  church  at  Brunswick  : 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  273 

"Suddenly,  like  the  unrolling  of  a  picture,  the  scene  of 
the  death  of  Uncle  Tom  passed  before  her  mind.  So 
strongly"  was  she  affected  that  it  was  with  difficulty  she 
could  keep  from  weeping  aloud.  Immediately  on  return- 
ing home  she  took  pen  and  paper  and  wrote  out  the 
vision  which  had  been,  as  it  were,  blown  into  her  mind 
as  by  the  rushing  of  a  mighty  wind.  Gathering  her 
family  about  her  she  read  what  she  had  written.  Her 
two  little  ones  of  ten  and  twelve  years  of  age  broke  into 
convulsions  of  weeping." 

SAVONAROLA. 

That  inspired  man  in  Italian  Florence  four  centuries 
ago — a  Dominican  monk,  a  Prior  of  St.  Marks,  a  religious 
reformer,  facing  even  the  Pope  when  he  held  him  in 
error,  rebuking  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent.    .   .   . 

In  that  dissolute  city  he  checked  vulgarity  for  a  time, 
so  that  psalms  were  heard  instead  of  licentious  songs, 
and  this  not  by  rigid  laws,  but  by  the  uplifting  power  of 
his  spiritual  nature  and  ennobling  speech.  Noblewomen 
dressed  plain,  robbers  gave  back  the  gold  they  had  stolen, 
children  held  to  purity  and  sang  of  the  angels,  and  coarse 
men  grew  decent.  The  spell  of  a  powerful  and  inspired 
personality  was  over  all  the  life  of  the  city,  blessed  so 
long  as  it  could  last,  but  the  pitiful  reaction  came,  and 
he  died  a  martyr's  death.  .  .  .  Savonarola's  visions 
were  real  to  him,  more  so  than  his  monk's  cell  and  the 
noise  of  the  streets.  They  were  the  subjects  of  his  ser- 
mons in  the  great  Duomo,  where  thousands  sat  breathless 
or  wept  and  sobbed  beneath  his  words.  His  voice  was 
like  the  peal  of  thunder  in  rebuke  of  sin,  like  the  song  of 
angels  when  he  saw  the  heavens  opened,  sweet  and  sad 
and  low,  when  he  touched  all  hearts  by  his  tender  com- 
passion. He  prophesied  events  which  the  sorrowing 
people,  after  his  death,  said  took  place,  and  sometimes 

18 


274  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

g-ave  counsel  not  wise  to  follow.      His  sagacity  was  rare, 
yet  he  was  hunaan. 

The  mistakes  and  limitations  in  which  even  the  greatest 
are  involved,  the  cast  and  hue  of  his  own  temperament, 
tinged  and  shaped  his  visions,  but  through  all  shone  the 
o-lory  of  a  spiritual  light.  After  his  torture,  his  prison 
was  peopled  with  invisible  beings  who  helped  him  to 
forget  his  pain,  and  he  wrote  sermons  with  the  text, 
"  In  thee,  O  Lord,  do  I  put  my  trust,"  while  his  mangled 
form  and  twisted  limbs  seemed  almost  useless.  It  was 
the  supremacy  of  the  spirit  over  the  poor  body.  It  was 
the  ministry  of  angels. 

REV.    HENRY   W.     BELLOWS,     D.D. 

Rev.  E.  E.  Hale,  Boston,  wrote  this  letter,  in  1887,  to 
Our  Best  Words,  Rev.  Mr.  Douthit's  journal  in  Shelbyville, 
111. 

My  Dear  Friend, — The  sermon  regarding  which  you 
write  is  in  the  new  volumeof  Dr.  Bellows' sermons.  The 
title  is  "  The  Secret  of  the  Lord." 

Dr.  Bellows  often  told  the  story  of  the  birth  of  this 
sermon.  He  has  told  it  to  me,  and  my  memory  of  it  is 
accurate. 

He  was  to  preach  one  of  what  we  call  "Theatre  Ser- 
mons." We  had  taken  the  Boston  Theatre,  the  largest  in 
Boston  and  one  of  the  largest  in  the  world,  for  religious 
services,  Sunday  evenings.  Dr.  Bellows  had  come  on 
from  New  York  to  preach. 

He  stayed,  as  he  always  did,  at  Dr.  Bartol's  house — 
which  he  used  to  call,  in  joke,  "Hotel  Bartol."  He 
preached  somewhere  in  the  morning,  and  after  service 
came  back  to  his  room  and  took  a  pile  of  MSS.  to  select  a 
proper  sermon  for  the  evening.  As  he  did  so,  a  voice 
behind  him  said,  "The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them 
that  fear  Him."     Bellows  turned  and  there  was  no  one 


UP  IV A  A' D  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  VEAKS.  275 

there.  He  said  to  himself,  "  If  I  did  not  know  what  sort 
of  things  hallucinations  are,  I  should  regard  that  as  a 
special  call  to  preach  on  that  text.''  But  in  fact  he  did  go 
on  with  his  MSS.  and  picked  out  a  sermon  for  the  evening 
from  among  them.  He  went  down  to  dinner  and  told  the 
story,  and  the  company  fell  to  discussing  hallucinations. 
In  the  evening  he  went  to  the  theatre.  With  a  company 
of  gentlemen  he  went  in  upon  the  stage  and  took  his 
seat.  Some  other  person  conducted  the  devotional  ex- 
ercises and  read  the  Scripture.  When  it  was  time  for  the 
sermon,  Dr.  Bellows  went  forward  with  his  manuscript, 
put  it  on  the  music  stand  which  was  provided  for  it,  and 
as  he  opened  it  a  voice  behind  him  said  audibly  to  him, 
"The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them  that  fear  him."  He 
did  not  pause  a  moment.  He  said  to  the  vast  congrega- 
tion, "  I  had  intended  to  speak  to  you  on  another  subject, 
bnt  an  intimation  of  a  sort  which  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of 
disregarding  suggests  to  me  that  I  shall  speak  from  the 
text  :  "  The  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them  that  fear  Him." 

"  I  do  not  know  where  this  text  is  precisely.  You  will 
find  it  among  the  Psalms  not  far  from  the  beginning  of 
the  book  of  Psalms." 

Then  he  preached  substantially  the  sermon  which  you 
find  in  the  collection.  But  till  that  moment  he  had  never 
planned  it  nor  in  any  way  arranged  it. 

He  was  himself  interested  in  the  sermon.  After  he  had 
preached  it  he  wrote  it  out  as  we  now  have  it.  I  have 
seen  the  MSS.,  and  I  think  there  are  eighty  places  noted 
on  it  where  he  had  preached  it.  I  think  he  told  me  that 
he  had  never  repeated  any  other  sermon  so  often. 

I  know  he  told  me  that  more  than  seventy  persons, 
most  of  them  strangers,  had  come  to  him  or  had  written 
to  him  to  say  that  they  went  to  hear  him  preach  from 
curiosity  merely,  having  before  yielded  wholly  to  skep- 
tical notions  regarding  the  Being  and  Presence  of  God  ; 
and  that  the  view  of  this  sermon  of  the  Great  Experiment 
of  Human  Life  had  recalled  them  to  faith  and  worship." 


276  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

OLIVER    WENDELL    HOLMES. 

Says :  "  My  poems  are  composed  when  I  am  in  a  con- 
dition of  mind  that  takes  me  out  of  myself.  In  fact  I  am 
wholly  unable  to  write  unless  I  am  borne  away  by  this 
influence." 

VICTOR    HUGO. 

M.  Laclede,  his  secretary  and  friend  for  long  years, 
gives  a  letter  he  wrote  to  a  mother  heart-broken  at  the 
death  of  her  child.  "Be  comforted,  it  is  only  a  separa- 
tion,—a  separation  for  us.  The  dead  are  not  even 
absent :  they  are  simply  invisible.  Every  time  you  think 
of  your  baby-boy,  he  will  be  near  you."  Laclede  con- 
fesses Victor  Hugo  had  a  leaning  to  spiritualism. 

Light,  a  reliable  and  able  spiritualist  journal  in  London, 
says:  "  He  would  say  to  his  friends,  "We  do  not  die 
altogether,  our  individuality  survives  ;  and,  while  I  am 
talkino-  to  you,  I  am  certain  that  all  around  me  are  the 
souls  of  all  the  dear  ones  that  I  have  lost  and  who  hear 
me."  He  could  never  quite  reconcile  himself  to  the  fact 
that  his  favorite  daughter,  who  was  drowned,  was  really 
dead.  He  often  thought  he  heard  her  footsteps  in  the 
house  and  her  hand  on  the  handle  of  the  door,  and  wrote : 

" Silence  !  elle  a  parle  ! 

Tenez  voici  le  bruit  de  sa  main  sur  la  cle  ! 
Attendez  !  elle  vient.     Laissez-moi  que  j'ecoute  ; 
Car  elle  est  quelque  part  dans  la  maison,  sans  doute  ! " 

In  our  tongue  these  lines  read  : 

"  Silence  !  she  speaks ! 
There !     Her  hand  is  on  the  door  knob ! 
Wait !  she  is  coming.     Let  me  listen  ; 
She  is  doubtless  in  the  house  somewhere !  " 

His  last  hours  were  "in  a  sort  of  trance,"  in  which  all  his 
past  came  up  and  he  looked  forward  with  exceeding  joy, 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YE  APS.  277 

speaking  in  tender  and  tlioughtful  affection  to  those  around 
him,  clasping  his  little  grandchild  Jeannie  in  his  arms, 
and  saying:  "Be  quiet,  child,  there  is  nothing  to  cry- 
about," — telling  his  family,  "I  see  light." 

Twenty  years  or  more  ago  Mrs.  Hollis-Billing,  a  well- 
known  American  medium,  spent  some  time  in  London, 
and  went  thence  to  Paris  with  letters  to  Victor  Hugo  and 
others.  She  told  me  of  sending  her  letter  to  him,  of  his 
coming  the  next  day  to  take  her  home  to  dine,  and  of 
frequent  visits  and  sittings  with  him.  On  a  special  occa- 
sion, when  messages  came,  purporting  to  be  from  his 
mother,  he  was  deeply  affected,  kissed  her  hand  at  parting 
while  his  tears  fell  freely,  and  said  :  "I  am  thankful  for 
this  precious  gift  from  heaven," 

Mrs.  Billing  showed  me  a  score  of  notes  in  his  hand- 
writing, and  dated  from  his  home, — cordial  invitations  to 
visit  the  family  and  graceful  expressions  of  friendship 
and  regard. 

DINAH  MULOCK  CRAIK, 

In  a  noble  poem,  on  All  Saints'  Day,  at  New  Hope 
College  Chapel,  Oxford,  a  place  rich  in  old  English 
memories,  its  very  air  filled  with  the  sweet  influences  of 
departed  worthies  and  pulsing  with  the  grand  harmony  of 
music,  she  said  : 

"  I  shall  find  them  again,  I  shall  find  them  again, 
By  the  soul  that  within  me  dwells 
And  leaps  unto  Tliee  with  rapture  free, 
As  the  glorious  anthem  swells, 

I  hear  a  voice  saying.     What  it  says. 

I  hear, — so,  perchance,  do  they, — 
As  I  stand  between  my  living,  I  ween, 

And  my  dead  upon  All  Saints'  day." 

As  she  stands  between  the  two  worlds  light  comes  to  her 


278  UPWA  RD  S  TEPS  OF  SE  VENTY  YEA  RS. 

from  both,  and  her  rapt  soul  is  lifted  up  in  joy  and  rever- 
ence while  she  sings  ; 

"And  I  see,  all  clear,  new  heavens,  new  earth. 
New  bodies,  redeemed  from  pain, 
New  souls, — ah  !  not  so  with  the  souls  that  I  know. 
Let  me  find,  let  me  find  them  again  !  " 

She  feels  that  these  visions  must  be  transient,  and  says  : 

"Only  at  times  through  the  soul's  shut  doors. 
Come  visits  divine  as  brief." 

But  these  visits  are  so  real  that  she  cries  out : 

"  Linger  a  little,  invisible  host 

Of  the  sainted  dead,  who  stand, 
Perhaps,  not  far  off,  though  men  may  scoflF, 
Touch  me  with  unfelt  hand. 

♦'  But  my  own,  my  own,  yc  are  holding  me  fast. 
With  the  human  clasp  that  I  knew. 
Through  the  chorus  clear,  your  voices  I  hear ! 
And  1  am  singing  with  you." 

The  "glorious  anthem,"  sounding  through  the  dim 
secluded  aisles  of  the  old  chapel  has  helped  her  until  her 
inmost  spirit  speaks,  the  consciousness  of  immortality  and 
of  spirit-presence  is  clear,  and  triumphant  voices  are  heard 
from  the  summer-land. 

As  these  voices  cease  and  the  vision   fades  away  she 

says  : 

"  Only  at  times  does  the  awful  mist 

Lift  up,  and  we  seem  to  see, 

For  a  moment's  space,  the  far  dwelling  place. 

Of  these,  our  beloved  and  Thee. ' ' 

A  SIMPLE  MICHIGAN  MAIDEN. 

I  once  met  in  a  Michigan  village,  a  girl  of  seventeen 
years,  natural  in  the  sweet  simplicity  of  her  maidenhood, 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  279 

and  of  an  excellent  family.  Her  education  was  that  of  a 
good  country  school,  her  knowledge  of  society  limited. 
She  was  diffident  and  shrinking  in  manner,  and  unused  to 
public  speaking,  save  on  a  few  occasions,  when  she  was 
led  out  by  an  irresistible  influence  which  she  could  not 
understand.  Some  of  her  friends  and  myself  went  to  a 
hall  with  her,  a  woman  led  her  to  the  platform,  and  I  sat 
near  to  see  and  hear.  I  saw  that  when  she  rose  before  the 
audience  she  was  hardly  able  to  stand,  and  shrank  timidly 
from  their  gaze.  In  a  moment  came  a  transfiguring 
change  ;  drawing  a  deep  breath,  she  stood  erect,  her 
features  radiant,  her  timidity  gone,  and  her  first  words 
full  of  power. 

For  an  hour  she  held  all  her  hearers  spell-bound  by  a 
discourse  clear  in  thought,  felicitous  in  expression,  wide 
in  its  range  of  knowledge,  uplifting  in  its  eloquence — such 
a  discourse  as  we  seldom  hear.  At  its  close  she  dropped 
wearily  to  her  seat,  upheld  by  her  friend  for  a  moment  and 
then  came  a  few  deep  breaths  and  the  inspired  speaker 
became  again  the  simple  and  timid  girl.  Asking  her  after- 
ward how  she  felt,  she  said,  "  I  knew  little  of  what  I  said 
or  of  the  hearers.  It  seemed  as  though  somebody  was 
talking  through  me."  The  "not  herself "  of  George  Eliot, 
and  this  experience  of  this  simple  maiden  are  quite  alike. 
Was  it  some  guiding  and  inspiring  intelligence,  or  some 
high  mood  in  which  the  outer  senses  are  chained  that  the 
spirit  may  better  assert  itself.? 

LIZZIE  DOTEN. 

A  verse  opening  one  of  the  admirable  poems  of  my 

friend  Lizzie  Doten,   spoken  first  and  then  written,  is  as 

follows  : 

"  God  of  the  Granite  and  the  Rose, 
Soul  of  the  .Sparrow  and  the  Bee. 
The  mighty  tide  of  Being  flows 

Through  countless  channels,  Lord,  from  thee. 


28o  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

It  leaps  to  life  in  grass  and  flowers, 

Through  every  grade  of  being  runs, 
'Till  from  Creation's  radiant  towers 
Its  glory  flames  in  stars  and  suns." 

Floating  through  her  mind  for  days,  these  poems  took 
form,  ' '  the  avenues  of  the  external  senses  closed  or  disused 
in  order  that  the  spiritual  perceptions  might  be  quickened, " 
and  also  that  "the  world  of  causes,  of  which  earth  and 
its  experiences  are  but  passing  effects,  might  be  disclosed 
to  my  vision, "  as  she  says.  Most  of  her  poems  came  from 
"the  sacred  retreat  "  of  her  Inner  Life,  where  she  holds 
"  conscious  communion  with  disembodied  spirits,"  and 
imperfectly  gives  their  thoughts  in  her  verse,  usually,  but 
not  always,  knowing  from  whom  they  come. 

Is  this  thoughtful  and  sincere  woman  right,  or  what  is 
the  truth  ? 

READING    GERMAN    PHILOSOPHY. 

The  following  remarkable  experience  is  given  me  by 
my  friend  Emily  Ward  of  this  city, — a  woman  widely 
known,  and  beloved,  held  also  as  of  superior  capacity 
and  judgment,  tirm  nerves,  and  clear  mental  faculties. 
Fifty  years  ago,  or  more,  her  father  was  lighthouse- 
keeper  on  Bois  Blanc  island,  and  she,  a  strong  young 
woman,  climbed  the  tall  tower  daily  to  trim  the  lamp, 
and,  cared  for  her  father's  comfort.  Her  own  graphic 
words  best  tell  the  story  : 

"  It  was  a  very  lonely  life  there,  no  inhabitants  except 
an  old  Frenchman  and  his  wife,  M^ho  worked  for  father. 
The  nearest  white  people  were  at  Mackinaw,  twelve  miles 
west  across  the  straits,  that  were  heaped  with  snow  and 
ice  all  winter.  Once  a  month  we  had  letters  from  the 
outside  world,  that  father  went  to  Mackinaw  to  get — a  hard 
journey.  For  five  long  months  we  were  snow  and  winter 
bound,  seeing  no  familiar  faces  save  those  in  our  home. 
When  the  ice  did  finally  break  up  in  the  spring,  and  the 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  28  I 

first  boat  came  close  off  the  shore,  you  may  be  sure  it 
was  welcomed  with  joy  ;  for  Uncle  Sam  and  Eber's  boat 
(her  brother,  the  late  E.  B.  Ward  of  Detroit)  was  sure  to 
be  first,  and  Eber  would  come,  in  his  brisk,  breezy  way, 
and  tell  of  the  news  from  civilization  and  of  the  sisters 
and  families.  In  1841  we  had  none  of  their  children  with 
us.  I  don't  know  how  we  should  have  endured  the  lone- 
liness but  for  books  and  papers.  Beside  the  few  we  had 
father  used  to  borrow  from  a  Mackinaw  friend,  and  from 
the  officers  in  the  fort  there.  After  the  work  was  done, 
in  the  long  winter  nights,  father  and  I  would  sit  by  the 
big  blazing  fire-place  and  read  and  read. 

"Among  the  borrowed  books  was  The  North  American 
Review,  then  a  new  periodical.  I  became  so  deeply 
interested  in  reviews  of  German  philosophy  that  I  longed 
to  read  the  books  they  wrote  about.  Every  night,  after 
I  went  to  bed,  I  would  think  over  what  the  authors  had 
written,  and  wish  I  could  read  the  originals.  But  how 
could  v.  I  could  not  even  buy  the  books,  nor  did  I  know 
a  word  of  German.  But  all  things  are  possible  to  the 
longing  and  ardent  soul ;  and  after  a  while  my  prayers 
for  knowledge  were  answered  in  a  most  extraordinary 
way.  I  do  not,  and  never  have  believed  in  what  is 
ordinarily  called  Spiritualism  ;  but  what  I  am  going  to 
tell  you  as  truly  happened  as  that  I  live  and  sit  here  to 
tell  it. 

"One  night,  after  being  more  depressed  than  usual  by 
my  lack  of  means  for  learning,  and  by  my  intense  desire 
for  this  particular  knowledge  of  German  philosophy,  I  fell 
asleep.  I  could  not  have  slept  long  when  it  seemed  1  was 
reading  just  what  I  wanted  to.  The  book  was  before  me. 
I  was  holding  it.  The  text  was  German,  yet  I  understood 
it.  The  joy  of  it  woke  me  up,  and  I  could  have  wept  for 
disappointment  that  I  had  not  read  more.  I  got  up  and 
looked  out  of  the  window.  The  moon  was  shining  full 
on  the  white  snow,  and  the  evergreen  trees  looked  dark 


282  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

and  lovely  against  all  that  brightness.  As  I  looked  the 
disappointment  passed  away,  and  I  felt  an  indescribable 
sense  of  exhilaration  ;  a  keener  knowledge  of  life  and  its 
meanino-s  rose  up  within  me,  and  a  heartfelt  but  unspoken 
prayer  to  the  good  Father  in  heaven  welled  up  from  my 

soul. 

"  I  laid  down  again,  and  fell  asleep,  and  immediately 
began  to  read  the  same  book.  This  time  I  did  not  wake 
up?  but  read  all  the  rest  of  the  night.  In  the  morning, 
when  I  woke,  I  felt  so  rejoiced  at  what  had  happened, 
and  so  in  hopes  that  I  should  be  permitted  to  read  again 
that  night,  that  the  day  went  by  like  a  robin's  song. 

"  I  thought  over  what  I  had  read,  and  tried  to  fix  it  in 
my  memory,  and  I  prayed  that  God  would  bless  me  in 
this  one  way,  if  He  never  gave  me  anything  more.  That 
nio-ht  as  I  looked  out  on  the  peaceful  stars,  before  I  retired, 
I  again  felt  that  calmness  of  soul  and  greatness  of  thought 
that  we  have  so  seldom  in  our  Hves.  It  is,  indeed,  the 
spirit  triumphing  over  the  flesh  for  a  few  brief  moments. 
As  soon  as  I  fell  asleep  I  began  the  book  again,  where  I 
had  left  off,  and  again  read  all  the  night. 

"After  that  the  winter  w^as  no  longer  dreary  or  lonely, 
for  every  night  I  would  read,  and  in  the  morning  wake 
up  refreshed  and  exhilarated.  Any  time  during  that  winter 
I  could  have  written  out  in  the  morning  what  I  had  read 
at  night.  It  certainly  was  the  happiest  winter  I  ever  spent, 
and  what  I  read  made  a  very  deep  impression  on  my 
mind,  and  exerted  a  strong  influence  on  my  whole  life." 

All  this  had  been  kept  in  mind  carefully,  and  had  indeed 
made  an  indelible  impression,  as  such  experiences  usually 
do. 

They  cannot  be  dismissed  with  a  flitting  and  shallow 
thought,  or  with  a  sneer  heartless  as  well  as  shallow. 
Science  must  respect  them  or  be  unscientific  ;  religion 
must  realize  their  meaning  or  lose  heart  and  life.  The 
ripening  insight  of  our  day  calls  for  more  careful  study 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  283 

of  these  things  of  the  spirit.     Thus  shall  we  reach  a  more 
harmonious    development  ;    the    intuitive    and    spiritual 
faculties  will  not  be  ignored,  but  will  act  in  unison 
the  logical  and  intellectual  powers  and  the  discovery  an 
application  of  truth  will  greatly  gain,  giving  new  wealth 
to  life  and  new  power  to  every  wise  reform. 

Spiritualism  and  psychic  science  constantly  touch  and 
blend,  like  different  phases  of  one  bright  planet. 

Spiritual  thinkers,  of  whatever  class  or  name,  may  well 
realize  that  we  stand  at  the  verge  of  a  wide  field,  rich  in 
promise  and  waiting  to  be  explored,  and  that  the  hour  is 
ripe  for  the  exploration. 

The  record  of  an  hour's  experience,  taken  from  notes 
made  at  the  time,  forty  years  ago,  will  give  a  glimpse  of 
what  we  have  to  learn,  and  of  the  benefits  of  such  knowl- 
edge. A  young  woman,  in  a  family  I  knew  well  in  a 
western  city,  was  ill  with  a  perilous  brain  fever.  The 
eminent  physician  in  attendance  said  to  her  mother  :  "I 
can  do  no  more,  in  any  usual  way.  I  see  but  one  hope 
for  your  daughter's  recovery.  I  can  magnetize  her  and 
relieve  the  pressure  on  the  brain.  If  you  wish  I  will  try 
it,  or  you  can  call  in  other  physicians."  She  consented, 
and  I  was  one  of  the  few  who  witnessed  the  experiment. 
Standing  by  her  bedside  he  quickly  passed  his  hands 
downward  over  her  head  and  eyes,  sometimes  lightly 
touching  the  patient,  sometimes  not,  and  in  fifteen 
minutes  the  flushed  face  and  inflamed  eyes  were  natural 
in  color  and  expression,  the  pressure  on  the  bram  re- 
lieved, the  circulation  equalized  and  natural,  the  breathing 
quiet  as  that  of  a  healthful  child,  as  she  rested  half  asleep, 
sweetly  and  cosily.  The  physician  said  :  "  I  will  psychol- 
ogize (or  hypnotize)  her  a  few  minutes,"  and  a  few  passes 
of  the  hand  and  an  effort  of  his  will  seemed  to  produce 
the  result,  so  that  she  drank  pure  water  as  lemonade, 
when  he  called  it  by  that  name  ;  said  it  needed  more  sugar 
when  impressed  to  do  so,  and  enjoyed  it  greatly  when 


284  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

he  said  it  was  just  right,  although  no  sugar  had  been  near 
it,  and  otherwise  showed  her  subject  psychologic  con- 
dition. He  said  to  her:  "Can  you  go  to  your  grand- 
father's and  tell  us  what  they  are  doing  and  how  the 
furniture  in  the  front  room  is  arranged?'"  She  said  she 
could,  closed  her  eyes,  and  was  as  in  a  quiet  sleep  for 
fifteen  minutes,  and  then  began,  in  a  low  voice  and  a 
quiet  way,  to  tell  of  persons  she  saw,  of  their  occupation, 
and  of  the  furniture  in  the  rooms. 

The  physician  knew  nothing  of  the  grandfather's  house, 
which  was  seven  hundred  miles  east ;  the  mother  had 
asked  him  to  get  the  description  from  her  daughter,  and 
that  description  was  afterward  found  io  he  correct  in  every 
particular.  At  the  time  the  mother  spoke  out  and  said  : 
"What  she  tells  about  the  furniture  is  wrong.  I  was 
there  not  long  ago,  and  it  was  then  placed  in  a  different 
way,"  but  she  was  found  wrong  and  the  daughter  right, 
the  furniture  having  been  re-arranged  since  the  mother's 
visit.  The  daughter's  clairvoyant  sight  had  opened,  and 
gone  beyond  the  psychologic  power  of  the  operating 
hypnotizer,  and  beyond  his  knowledge,  or  that  of  any  one 
present.  The  physician  then  said  :  "You  need  rest;  we 
will  leave  you  to  sleep  an  hour  with  your  mother  by  your 
side."  At  the  close  of  the  hour  she  awoke,  greatly  rested 
and  relieved,  and  her  recovery  was  rapid  and  lasting. 

The  intelligent  and  excellent  family  were  connected 
with  an  orthodox  church,  and  had  no  special  knowledge 
of  these  psychic  matters,  the  mother's  anxiety  for  her  sick 
child  really  leading  to  all  this  valuable  experience. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OP  SEVENTY  YEARS.  285 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  OUTLOOK — COMING  REFORMS. 

"  Clothe  me  in  the  rose-tints  of  Thy  skies 

Upon  morning  summits  laid  ; 
Robe  me  in  the  purple  and  gold  that  flies 

Through  Thy  shuttles  of  light  and  shade. 
Give  me  of  the  brook's  faith,  joyously  sung 

Under  clank  of  its  icy  chain  ! 
Give  me  of  the  patience  that  hides  among 

Thy  hill -tops  in  mist  and  rain  ! 
Lift  me  up  from  the  clod  ;  let  me  breathe  Thy  breath  ; 

Thy  beauty  and  strength  give  me  ! 

Let  me  lose  both  the  name  and  the  meaning  of  death 

In  the  life  that  I  share  with  Thee  !  " 

Lucy  Larcom, 

For  more  than  sixty  years  I  have  heard  the  preaching 
of  different  denominations  in  twenty  States  from  Maine  to 
Missouri.  The  sermon  of  1890  is  not  the  sermon  of  1830. 
Dogmas  are  less  emphasized  and  "  carnal  reason  "  is  less 
decried  ;  doctrines  have  more  reasonable  interpretation, 
the  wrath  of  Jehovah  gives  place  to  the  goodness  of  God  ; 
thought  is  broader  and  charity  grows  ;  practical  reforms 
are  more  urged  ;  we  hear  less  of  Judea  and  the  wicked 
Jews,  more  of  our  own  land  and  the  erring  Americans. 

The  shadow  of  the  Dark  Ages  hangs  over  the  Roman 
Catholic  church.  There  are  true  and  gifted  souls  in  its 
communion,  and  conscience  must  be  held  inviolate,  but 
the  organized  power  of  its  ecclesiasticism  is  a  standing 
menace  to  freedom  and  to  the  free  education  of  the  people  ; 
its  doctrine  that  the  Pope  is  to  be  obeyed  before  any  other 
ruler  or  State  authority  strikes  at  the  root  of  patriotism, 
loyalty,  and  order.    Catholic  means  universal.   The  growth 


286  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

of  world-wide  thought  and  of  freedom  of  conscience  is 
the  decrease  of  Roman  Catholicism,  as  some  of  its  best 
members  beg-in  to  see. 

Arthur  Penrhyn  Stanley,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Westminster, 
an  eminent  and  eloquent  preacher  in  the  English  Episcopal 
church,  came  to  our  country  a  few  years  ago,  and  his 
words  here  show  the  tendency  of  his  thought  to  a  broader 
charity  and  fraternity.  A  published  volume  of  his  Ameri- 
can discourses  is  quoted  from.  Addressing  the  Episcopal 
clergy  of  New  England,  he  said  : 

«'  The  crude  notions  which  prevailed  twenty  years  ago  on  the  subject  of 
Bible  inspiration  have  been  so  completely  abandoned  as  to  be  hardly  any- 
where maintained  by  theological  scholars The  doctrine  of  the 

Atonement  will  never  again  appear  in  the  crude  form  common  both  in 
Protestant  and  Catholic  churches  in  former  times.  A  more  merciful  view 
of  future  punishment  and  of  a  hope  of  a  universal  restitution  have  been 

gradually  advancing,  and  the  darker  view  gradually  receding 

The  question  of  miracles  has  reached  this  point— that  no  one  would  now 
make  them  the  chief  or  sole  basis  of  the  evidence  of  religious  truth.  .... 
I  am  persuaded  that  what  is  called  Liberal  Theology  is  the  backbone  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  will  be  found  to  be  the  backbone  of  its 
daughter  church  in  America." 

To  the  students  of  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  in 
New  York,  under  Presbyterian  care,  he  said  : 

"  Do  let  me  entreat  you  to  look  facts  in  the  face,  whether  the  facts  of 
the  Bible,  of  science  or  of  scholarship.  Do  not  be  afraid  of  them.  Com- 
pare the  sacred  volumes  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  with  the  sacred 
volumes  of  other  religions.  Make  the  most  searching  investigation,  with 
light  from  whatever  quarter,  as  to  the  origin  of  the  sacred  books." 

On  the  Conditions  of  Religious  Inquiry  he  wrote  : 

"  The  most  excellent  service  that  churches  and  pastors,  authorities  of 
State  or  of  religion,  universities  or  teachers,  can  render  to  the  human  reason 
in  this  arduous  enterprise  is,  not  to  restrain  or  to  blindfold  it,  but  to  clear 
aside  every  obstacle,  to  open  wide  the  path,  to  chase  away  the  phantoms 
that  stand  in  the  road." 

Speaking  on  the  Nature  of  Man  in  a  New  York  pulpit, 
his  word  was  : 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS,  287 

"  When  for  a  thousand  years  the  Christian  church  beUeved  that  the 
eternal  weal  or  woe  of  human  beings  depended  on  the  immersion  of  the 
human  body  or  sprinkHng  the  forehead  in  a  baptistery  or  a  font  of  water; 
when  the  regeneration  of  nations,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  or  even  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  was  supposed  to  depend  on  the  possession  of  a  dead 
bone  or  a  fragment  of  wood  ;  when  Dodwell  maintained  that  the  soul  was 
mortal,  and  that  none  but  bishops  had  the  power  of  giving  it  '  the  Divine 
immortalizing  spirit;  '  when  a  celebrated  English  divine  maintained,  some 
fifty  years  ago,  that  the  ordinary  means  by  which  a  human  being  acquired 
immortality  was  by  physically  partaking  of  the  bread  and  wine  of  the 
Eucharist, — these  were  all  so  many  attempts  to  sink  the  spiritual  in  the 
material,  to  resolve  the  spirit  of  man  into  the  material  particles  of  meat 
and  drink,  of  inanimate   substances,  and   of  things  that  perish  with   the 

using Whenever,  whether  in  Catholic  or  Protestant,  in  heathen 

or  Christian  lands,  the  irrational,  the  magical,  the  inanimate,  gives  place 
to  the  reasonable,  the  holy,  and  the  living  service  of  the  human  soul  to 
God, — there,  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going  down  of  the  same, 
the  pure  sacrifice,  the  true  incense,  is  offered,  by  which  alone  man  can 
hope  to  prevail  with  his  Maker." 

Rev.  Phillips  Brooks,  of  Boston,  a  gifted  and  eminent 
Episcopalian,  has  an  article  in  the  Princeton  Review  of 
March,  1879,  on  the  Pulpit  and  Modern  Skepticism,  in 
which  he  says  : 

"  Doubts  are  thick  around  us  in  our  congregations,  and  thicker  still,  out- 
side in  the  world.  Skepticism  is  a  very  pervading  thing.  It  evidently  can- 
not be  shut  up  in  any  guarded  class  or  classes Ideas  change  and 

develop  in  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  ;   the  occupants  of  pulpits  have 

their  doubts  and  disbeliefs  as  well  as  others A  large  acquaintance 

with  clerical  life  has  led  me  to  think  that  almost  any  company  of  clergy- 
men, talking  freely  to  each  other,  will  express  opinions  which  would  greatly 
surprise,  and  at  the  same  time  greatly  relieve,  the  congregations,  who 
ordinarily  listen  to  these  ministers How  men  in  the  ministry  to- 
day believe  in  the  doctrine  of  verbal  inspiration  which  our  fathers  held,  and 
how   many  of  us   have   frankly  told  the  people    that  we   do  not  believe 

it  ? How    many  of  us  hold  the  everlasting    punishment  of  the 

wicked  as  a  clear  and    certain  truth  of  revelation  ?     But  how  many  of  us 

who  do  not  hold  it  have  ever  said  a  word  ? There  must  be  no 

lines  of  orthodoxy  inside  the  lines  of  truth.  Men  find  that  you  are 
playing  with  them,   and  will  not  believe  you,    even  when  you  are   in 

earnest The  minister  who  tries  to  make  people  believe  that  which 

he   questions,  in  order  to   keep  them  from  questioning  what  he  believes, 


288  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

knows  very  little  about  the  certain  workings  of  the  human  heart,  and  has 
no  real  faith  in  truth  itself.  I  think  a  great  many  teachers  and  parents 
are  now  in  just  this  condition It  is  a  most  dangerous  experi- 
ment." 

Such  testimonies,  from  such  sources,  are  significant. 
They  show  that  theological  dogmatism  is  a  crime  against 
humanity. 

The  old  Pharisaic  spirit,  which  persecutes  heretics  in  the 
"  I  am  holier  than  thou  "  spirit,  still  lives  among  bigoted 
sectaries,  Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic.  It  blazed  in 
hot  wrath  against  eariy  Universalism,  it  is  brutish  in  its 
ignorant  contempt  of  modern  Spirituahsm,  but  its  flames 
grow  fainter.  The  orthodox  and  evangelical  churches 
have  no  religious  fellowship  or  communion  with  Uni- 
tarians and  their  like,  but  the  dividing  walls  weaken  and 
their  fragments  get  scattered,  so  that  the  liberal  Congre- 
gation alist  can  hardly  tell  on  which  side  of  the  line  he 
stands. 

A    NEW    PROTESTANTISM. 

Great  changes  mark  the  religious  thought  of  our  day, 
greater  than  those  of  the  days  of  Martin  Luther.  That 
Protestant  Reformation  was  a  grand  onward  step,  but, 
with  Protestant  as  with  Catholic,  it  was  authority  for 
truth,  Bible,  or  creed,  or  Papal  decree  above  the  soul. 
Now  the  spirit  asserts  itself,  the  soul  is  greater  than  Bible 
or  Pope,  truth  transcends  authority.  The  change  is  a 
revolution, — a  New  Protestantism. 

From  miraculous  revelation  and  inspiration  in  one  book 
and  one  age  only,  the  outlook  is  toward  i^.atural  revela- 
tion and  inspiration  in  all  ages,  among  all  peoples,  and 
in  more  than  one  book.  From  the  fall  of  man  in  some 
mythic  Eden,  a  fall  from  which  no  rise  is  possible  save 
to  the  few  "elect,"  we  turn  to  his  rise,  here  and  here- 
after. 

Turning  from  original  sin  and  total  depravity,  the  great 


UPWARD  STEPS  OP  SEVENTY  YEARS.  2S9 

word  ofDerzhaven  stands  graven  on  the  rocks  toward  the 
mountain-tops  we  would  climb  : 

"For  in  my  spirit  doth  Thy  spirit  shine, 
As  shines  the  sunbeam  in  the  drop  of  dew." 

The  heaven  of  harps  and  palm  branches,  of  praise 
without  works,  and  the  fiery  hell  of  eternal  torment  are 
fading-  away.  In  their  place  come  the  softened  sheol, 
then  future  probation,  then  the  spirit-world  with  its  ample 
scope  for  nobler  tasks  than  we  can  even  dream  of  here. 

Leaving  the  narrow  view  which  made  Christianity  from 
God  and  all  other  religions  devices  of  Satan,  we  turn 
toward  the  sympathy  of  religions, — Veda  and  Dhamma- 
pada  and  Bible,  valuable  but  not  infallible  ;  milestones 
along  the  path.  The  miraculous  Christ,  second  person  of 
a  mystical  Trinity,  dying  to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  first 
person,  and  the  bloody  atonement,  are  being  held  as 
outworn  and  crude  conceptions.  "The  man  Christ 
Jesus,"  our  elder  brother,  stands  clad  in  the  beauty  of  a 
holiness  human  yet  divine. 

No  marvel  that  many,  reverently  devoted  to  the  old 
opinions,  and  lacking  insight  and  courage  to  see  that 
better  must  take  their  place,  shrink  from  these  great 
changes.  Creeds  are  being  studied  and  revised,  inde- 
pendent preachers  get  large  hearing.  It  is  the  awaken- 
ing day  of  the  soul  ;  the  old  foundations  are  shaken  and 
overturned.  We  may  have  respectful  tenderness  for  the 
good  of  whatever  faith,  but  none  the  less  must  truth 
sweep  on. 

For  safety  and  growth  in  grace  we  must  be  light- 
bringers. 

Man  is  no  longer  the  tool  and  creature  of  institutions, 
in  State  or  Church.  They  are  made  by  him  :  if  they  help 
and  serve  him,  it  is  well  ;  if  not,  "the  breath  that  made 
can  unmake."  No  divinity  hedges  around  bishop  or 
parish  minister,  book  or  doctrine.     No  "thus  saith  the 

19 


290 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 


Lord  "  can  enslave  men  ;  thought  must  be  untrammeled 
by  external  and  arbitrary  limitations  that  our  ideals  of  life 
may  enlarge.  The  best  people  in  the  churches  care  least 
for  dogmas,  the  best  preachers  say  least  about  them  ;  in 
good  time  they  will  die  out.  Dogmatism  is  not  religion. 
When  creeds  are  forgotten  and  Bibles  are  helps,  valuable 
yet  human  and  fallible,  there  will  be  more  "peace  on 
earth  and  good-will  among  men  "  than  now.  We  can  see 
already  that  the  growth  of  spiritual  freedom  brings  more 
healthful  and  natural  piety. 

Psychological  study  reveals  the  wide  sweep  of  man's 
spiritual  relations  and  the  splendor  of  human  powers  and 
possibilities,  while  science  questions  nature  for  fact  and 
law.  Dogmatic  theology  offers  only  the  crude  systems  of 
a  darker  Past,  and  the  poor  stones  of  miracles  wrought 
by  an  arbitrary  power  above  law, — all  to  be  believed, 
even  if  reason  rebels  and  conscience  abhors.  We  have 
the  supremacy  and  sanctity  of  the  soul,  its  instinctive 
call  for  "Light,  more  light!"  and  the  grand  search  of 
science,  wide  as  the  world  and  through  stars  and  suns  ; 
while  troops  of  bigots  hold  up  all  manner  of  conflicting 
dogmas,  and  vex  the  air  with  their  senseless  yet  cruel 
outcries,  —  "Believe  and  be  saved.  He  that  believeth 
not  shall  be  damned."  It  is  a  growth  more  than  a  con- 
test. With  far  less  warfare  of  words  than  of  old  we  are 
leaving  these  dwarfing  finalities  beneath  us.  We  move 
on  and  toss  back  our  broken  fetters,  not  caring  to  dispute 
about  the  stuff  they  are  made  of. 

WOMAN    IN    THE  PULPIT. 

A  woman  preach !  Amazement  and  pious  indignation 
would  have  ruled  the  hour  had  such  a  step  been  proposed 
in  the  Hatfield  meeting-house,  in  my  boyhood.  The 
solid  old  pulpit  would  have  been  shaken  to  pieces  by  her 
profane  weight.  Even  the  placid  mood  of  the  Unitarian 
people  in  the   Springfield  church  of  my  parents  would 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  291 

have  been  sorely  vexed  by  so  unwomanly  a  suggestion. 
A  few  years  ago  twenty  women  preached  in  this  good 
city  of  Detroit  one  Sunday,  mostly  in  popular  orthodox 
churches,  and  their  hearers  really  enjoyed  their  ministra- 
tions.    The  Puritans  of  New  England,  Whittier  tells  us  ; 

"  Flayed  the  backs  of  female  preachers." 

On  that  Sunday  I  sat  in  two  orthodox  churches  among 
the  descendants  of  those  Puritans,  and  they  were  happy 
listeners  to  the  gospel  preached  by  women. 

"Theodore  Parker  said:  "Our  theology  came  from 
old  monks,  with  heads  like  apes  and  necks  hke  bulls, 
woman  had  no  part  in  its  creed-making." 

The  more  need  thatshe  help  in  its  reform.  Her  coming 
religious  position  and  influence  should  not  be  overlooked. 

The  Homiletic  Review,  an  evangelical  magazine,  fairly 
opened  its  pages  in  1887  for  a  discussion  of  the  question, 
"Shall  women  be  licensed  to  preach  .? "  and  Frances  E. 
Willard  made  clear  atifirmative  answer. 

She  said:  "It  is  men  who  have  defrauded  manhood 
and  womanhood,  in  the  persons  of  priest  and  monk  and 
nun,  of  the  right  to  the  sanctities  of  home  ;  men  who  have 
invented  hierarchies  and  lighted  inquisitorial  fires.  .  .  It 
is  men  who  have  taken  the  simple,  loving,  tender  gospel 
of  the  New  Testament,  so  suited  to  be  the  proclamation 
of  a  woman's  lips,  and  translated  it  in  terms  of  sacerdo- 
talism, dogma  and  martyrdom.  The  mother-heart  of  God 
will  never  be  known  to  the  world  until  translated  into 
speech  by  mother-hearted  woman.  Law  and  love  will 
never  balance  in  the  realm  of  grace  until  a  woman's  hand 
shall  hold  the  scales. 

"Men  preach  a  creed;  women  will  declare  a  life. 
Men  deal  in  formulas  ;  women  in  facts.  Men  have  always 
tithed  mint  and  rue  and  cummin  in  their  exegesis  and 
ecclesiasticism,  while  the  world's  heart  has  cried  out  for 
compassion,  forgiveness  and  sympathy.     Men's  preaching 


292  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

has  left  heads  committed  to  a  catechism  and  left  hearts 
hard  as  nether  millstones." 

Among  Friends  women  have  always  preached,  and 
Liberal  Christians  hear  them  gladly.  The  Spiritualists 
always  prized  woman's  ministrations,  and  Orthodox  doors 
are  slowly  opening  to  her.  Let  her  be  true  to  her  own 
convictions,  and  adopt  the  motto  of  Lucretia  Mott  of 
blessed  memory  :  "Truth  for  authority,  not  authority  for 
truth." 

REV.  HORACE  BUSHNELl's   "DEEPER  MATTERS." 

Forty  years  or  more  ago  that  able  and  earnest  orthodox 
clergyman,  Rev.  Horace  Bashnell,  sat  in  a  meeting  of  his 
Congregational  clerical  brethren  in  Hartford,  Ct.,  and 
listened  quietly  to  their  discussion  of  sundry  theological 
dogmas.  At  last  his  opinion  was  asked,  and  he  said  in 
substance : 

"  Brethren,  it  is  not  for  me  to  say  that  these  questions 
are  trivial,  but  their  vital  importance  is  passing  away. 
Graver  and  deeper  matters  loom  up  before  us  in  the  near 
future,  not  of  election  and  reprobation,  not  of  trinity  or 
atonement,  but  we  shall  soon  be  asked,  Is  there  a  God 
or  any  Divine  government .''  Is  there  any  future  life.-*  And 
these  questions  we  must  be  ready  to  meet,  not  by  dog- 
matic assertions,  but  by  argument  and  illustration  that 
will  satisfy  reason  and  conscience,  and  awaken  spiritual 
life." 

The  condition  of  religious  thought  to-day  justifies  his 
sagacious  foresight. 

The  old  dogmatic  questions  still  linger  but  grow  incon- 
sequent, serving  as  shadowy  ghosts  to  frighten  the  fear- 
ful for  a  while. 

Is  this  dead  world  a  self-acting  machine  }  Is  man's  life 
born  of  the  body,  kept  up  by  its  chemic  tides,  and  to 
die  with  that  body's  death  ?  Is  there  no  ruling  and 
designing  mind.''  Or  is  there  a  Soul  of  Things,  an  uplift- 
ing design,  an  immortal  life  for  man }     Is  Materialism  or 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  293 

a  Spiritual  Philosophy  to  sway  the  future  ?  These  great 
questions  loom  up  before  us,  and  go  to  the  very  founda- 
tions of  our  philosophy  and  our  religion.  The  old  disputes 
are  dwarfed  and  trifling  in  comparison,  and  the  old  creeds 
give  us  no  answer  such  as  we  need.  A  deeper  philoso- 
phy, a  more  perfect  science,  an  inspiring  spiritual  faith 
and  knowledge,  and  a  natural  religion  are  to  gain  nobler 
growth  in  the  search  for  truth  now  opening.  They  must, 
and  will,  help  us  to  find  fit  answer  to  these  grave  questions. 

The  scientific  theory  of  evolution,  for  instance,  is  exter- 
nal and  imperfect  until  it  shall  recognize  an  indwelling 
and  designing  Mind,  and  include  the  idea  that  "The  in- 
tention of  nature  everywhere  manifest  is  the  perfection  of 
man;"  that  star-dust,  and  crude  matter  and  all  lower 
types  of  life  prophesy  him,  and  that  his  life  here  prophesies 
his  life  hereafter.  With  such  inclusiveness  it  will  be  per- 
fected, and  will  be  the  helper  of  a  deeper  religious  faith. 

A  divine  plan  and  purpose  is  about  us  and  in  our  very 
being.  So  opens  the  way  for  insight  and  trust,  for  hope 
and  love  and  reverence,  and  for  a  better  comprehension 
of  things. 

The  splendid  researches  of  Darwin  and  others  give  us 
evolution  as  the  working  of  force  and  law  in  the  trans- 
figuration of  matter.  In  spiritual  science  evolution  is  the 
Divine  method,  the  positive  power  of  mind  using  and 
guiding  force  and  law,  not  merely  to  lift  rock  and  clod  to 
finer  forms  and  higher  uses,  but  also  to  guide  man  up  the 
spiral  pathway  in  an  unending  progressive  development. 
By  so  much  as  immortal  man  is  greater  than  the  clod  he 
treads  on,  spiritual  science  is  greater  and  more  complete 
than  all  merely  inductive  methods  which  only  touch  mat- 
ter and  ignore  the  soul  in  man,  and  the  Soul  of  things. 
These  inductions  have  done,  and  are  doing  great  service. 
They  are  not  to  be  underrated,  but  it  is  high  time  we 
looked  beyond  them  for  larger  and  more  perfect  methods, 
of  which  they  would  be  only  a  part. 


294  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

Mind  must  marshal  and  array  atoms  and  particles  for 
their  new  departure  up  the  spiral  pathway.  As  in  the 
growth  of  worlds  and  races  through  long  ages,  so  it  is  in 
the  annual  transfigurations  which  surprise  and  delight  us. 
God  transmutes  the  dry  seed  and  the  black  mud  into  the 
delicate  hue  and  shape  and  the  fine  fragrance  of  the  rose, 
because  the  divine  Mind,  working  through  the  law  of  the 
flower's  growth,  vitalizes  and  refines  the  stuff  it  uses  to 
reveal  a  gleam  of  the  Infinite  Beauty. 

Science  says  to-day  that  an  all-pervading  yet  invisible 
ether  must  be,  or  its  undulatory  theory  of  light  is  im- 
possible. It  did  not  say  so  yesterday.  To-morrow  it 
must  say  that  an  all-pervading  and  guiding  Mind  must  be, 
or  evolution  is  impossible.  Sooner  than  we  imagine  the 
time  is  coming  when  a  godless  science  will  be  an  un- 
scientific absurdity. 

What  ideas  shall  uplift  and  inspire  man,  helping  to 
make  to-morrow  better  than  to-day  ?  What  great  truths 
of  the  Past  shall  we  keep  while  putting  its  errors  aside .'' 

The  old  religions  were  not  all  false  ;  the  old  creeds  not 
all  error  ;  men  and  women  who  believe  them  have  led 
noble  lives.  Underneath  them  were  great  and  enduring 
truths,  not  to  be  cast  aside  or  made  light  of  Ideas  of 
Deity,  duty  and  immortality  were  the  light  of  Asia  and 
Old  Egypt,  and  of  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  that 
light  will  shine  with  a  more  golden  glory  as  the  clouds  of 
superstition  melt  away  and  the  spiritual  nature  of  man 
asserts  itself. 

Going  to  the  Synagogue  under  charge  of  Rabbi  Gross- 
mann  in  this  city  lately  I  witnessed  the  Sabbath-school 
exercises  of  three  hundred  children.  The  Rabbi  read  an 
anthem  to  be  sung,  the  happy  voices  joined  in  the  music, 
and  the  voice  of  the  Jewish  maiden  who  sat  at  the  piano 
as  leader  was  as  rich  and  clear  as  might  have  been  that 
of  the  saintly  Rebecca  the  Jewess  in  Walter  Scott's  great 
story.     The  Rabbi  eaiJ  to  the  children  :   "The  music  is  a 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  295 

thousand  years  old;  the  words,  opening  with:  'Hear,  O 
Israel,  the  Lord  is  One  1  '  were  sung  by  the  Israelites  on 
the  shore  of  the  Red  Sea  three  thousand  years  ago." 

One  seemed  to  hear  the  strains  of  harp  and  timbrel 
mino-ling  with  the  songs  of  ancient  Israel.  The  thought 
came  up  that  even  if  our  sight  was  clearer  and  our  sky 
broader,  the  same  ineffable  light  came  through  the  clouds 
to  them  which  we,  and  their  descendants  among  us,  may 
haply  see  more  clearly  to-day. 

We  have  a  good  deal  of  so-called  "advanced  thought 
and  radicalism."  Those  who  not  only  reject  the  old 
theology,  but  have  no  spiritual  faith  in  its  place,  no  belief 
in  a  supreme  Intelligence,  an  immortal  life,  or  anything 
beyond  the  range  of  the  outward  senses  claim  to  be 
most  advanced  and  most  truly  radical.  Is  it  an  advance 
to  wander  away  in  the  mists  of  materiaUsm.?  Which 
has  gone  farthest  in  the  path  of  wisdom  and  light,  Emer- 
son, who  says  : 

"  Ever  fresh  this  broad  creation, 
A  divine  improvisation, 
From  the  heart  of  God  proceeds ; 
A  single  will,  a  million  deeds, 

or  those  sceptics  called  advanced  thinkers  .?  Radicalism 
is  going  to  the  root  or  origin  of  things.  Is  there  no  ruhng 
mind  there,  or  only  mud  out   of   which    mind  is   to  be 

evolved  .? 

Channing  said  :  "  I  call  that  mind  free  which  escapes 
the  bondage  of  matter,  which,  instead  of  stopping  at  the 
material  universe  and  making  it  a  prison  wall,  passes 
beyond  it  to  its  Author,  and  finds  in  the  radiant  signa- 
tures which  it  everywhere  bears  of  the  Infinite  Spirit  helps 
to  its  own  spiritual  enlargement."  These  are  deeper 
words  than  the  shallow  style  of  radicalism  can  give  us. 

This  is  a  day  of  Ethical  Culture.  Societies  to  that  high 
end   are   organized,   able  discourses  go  out  emphasizing 


\ 


2q6         upward  steps  of  seventy  years. 

nobler  morals  and  a  wiser  daily  life — aims  surely  worthy 
of  all  commendation.  This  movement  ignores  or  holds 
inconsequent  all  discussion  of  a  future  life  and  a  Supreme 
Mind  as  possible  helps  to  its  aims  ;  and  treats  of  man  as 
living  here  with  no  infinite  relations,  no  inspiration  from 
any  sphere  beyond  this  little  ball  we  call  our  earth.  Its 
exclusive  this-worldliness  is  an  extreme  reaction  from 
the  equally  absurd  other-worldliness  of  old-time  pietists. 
That  extreme  must  be  abandond  ;  for  the  highest  and 
most  vital  thought  of  duty  is  only  possible  when  we  see 
that  the  basis  of  ethics  and  morals  is  in  the  immortal 
human  spirit  akin  to  the  Divine  Spirit.  The  noble  army 
of  martyrs  and  reformers,  from  Paul  and  Silas  in  prison, 
with  a  friendly  and  powerful  spirit  opening  its  doors,  to  the 
patient  and  conquering  endurance  of  William  of  Orange, 
and  the  heroic  cheer  of  Lucretia  IMott,  fill  us  with  a  sense 
of  the  power  and  grace  of  the  fearless  doing  of  duty, 
of  obedience  to  that  sacred  voice  in  the  soul  which  says  : 
"I  ought."  Not  to  obey  that  voice  is  to  be  flippant  and 
weak,  shallow  and  worthless,  in  this  world  and  in  all 
worlds. 

No  narrow  this-worldliness  dwarfed  the  thoughts  of 
these  great  teachers  and  moral  heroes.  They  felt  that 
man's  divine  relations  and  the  large  scope  of  his  immortal 
life  must  help  to  light  his  daily  path  and  enlarge  and 
enrich  his  ethics.  Ethical  culture  must  be  spiritualized  ; 
its  air  is  too  cold,  its  light  too  dim.  Among  its  leaders 
are  true  men  with  noble  aims,  but  their  ideal  of  life  is 
fragmentary.  Can  we  learn  most  and  best  of  duty  by 
ignoring  Deity  and  immortality  and  not  using  these  great 
ideas  as  inspiring  helps?  Surely  not.  If  we  can,  the 
morals  of  Christ,  the  great  words  of  Socrates  and  of  a  long 
line  of  divine  philosophers  and  inspired  seers  and  poets 
have  been  too  much  exalted. 

Agnostic  ethics  are  like  the  house  built  on  the  sand, 
spiritual  ethics  like  the  house  built  on  the  rock.     The 


PVVARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  297 

storm  swept  away  the  first,  but  the  hist  was  not  shaken. 

LIBERAL    CHRISTIANITY. 

How  fares  our  Liberal  Christianity  ?  At  the  heart  of 
Unitarianisin,  Universalism  and  Quakerism  are  ideas  of 
rehgious  progress,  and  of  the  Divine  beneficence.  By 
these  they  have  greatly  profited.  They  have  put  aside 
errors  and  gained  truths,  and  an  increasing  number 
among  them  are  glad  of  this  growth.  Bibliolatry  and 
lawless  miracles  are  fading  out  and  rational  views  taking 
their  place.  They  have  made  a  strong  impression  on 
the  orthodox  sects.  Outside  of  Universalism  are  more 
Universalists  than  within.  Channing  and  Parker  have 
wide  reading  outside  of  Unitarianism.  With  no  rigid 
creeds  there  is  large  diversity,  much  agreeing  to  disagree 
on  non-essentials,  and  sometimes  disagreement  on  deeper 
matters.  A  lack  of  the  deep  conviction,  abiding  faith, 
and  strong  earnestness  of  old  Puritanism  weakens  the 
liberal  religious  movements.  That  same  lack  weakens 
modern  evangelical  churches  even  more.  Fill  the  larger 
thought  of  to-day  with  that  conquering  spiritual  strength 
of  the  olden  time  and  the  whole  earth  will  be  stirred. 

Great  and  needed  emphasis  is  placed  on  character  in 
religion,  but  character  is  based  on  thought.  Make  the 
foundation  solid  and  the  temple  stands,  ignore  the  base 
and  the  whole  structure  totters  to  its  fall. 

The  dogmatic  creed  was  like  a  morsel  of  the  bread  of 
life  in  a  great  dish  of  dust  and  rubbish,  all  to  be  eaten, 
no  dust  sifted  out,  no  change  of  diet  allowed.  It  has  had 
its  day.  But  shall  nothing  stand  in  its  place  .''  Is  that 
morsel  to  be  flung  away  with  the  rubbish.?  The  world 
asks  a  man  :  "What  are  your  inspiring  ideas  and  convic- 
tions?" If  he  says:  "I  don't  know,"  he  has  no  weight. 
So  it  is  with  a  body  of  men  and  women. 

Brief  statements  of  great  spiritual  truths,  the  eternal 
verities  which  have  come  tlown  the  ages  as  our  precious 


298  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

heritage,  and  cannot  wisely  be  flung  aside,  must  stand 
instead  of  the  old  superficial  dogmas.  They  must  be 
open  to  revision,  and  so  end  the  poor  game  of  heresy- 
hunting.  "  Here  we  stand,  to  study  these  great  ideas 
and  to  do  our  duty.  We  seek  light,  and,  if  need  be,  we 
move  on  to-morrow,"  will  be  their  meaning. 

Thus  will  souls  be  vitalized  and  illuminated,  while 
intellect  has  widest  range,  and  reason  is  free.  Thus  will 
come  foundation  for  character,  solid  and  lasting  ground 
for  natural  religion,  definiteness  of  aim,  and  that  depth  of 
conviction  which  gives  positive  and  conquering  power. 

No  doubter  need  be  misused  or  coldly  turned  away,  for 
there  are  noble  souls  who  doubt  and  every  conscience  is 
inviolate.  Hold  up  a  steady  light  and  ask  all  to  come 
and  see  if  it  helps  them. 

Affirm  Deity,  Duty,  Immortality  as  primal  truths  of  the 
soul,  and  the  liberal  faith  grows  stronger,  its  great  work 
still  greater,  its  firm  pathway  free  from  quicksands  and 

fog. 

All  religious  movements  must  rest  on  spiritual  founda- 
tions. 

Conversing  with  a  Unitarian  clergyman  of  large  mind 
and  heart,  and  manly  courage,  I  said  to  him  :  Unitarians 
and  other  liberal  religionists  are  in  a  peculiar  situation. 
The  old  textual  evidences  of  Deity  and  immortality  are  fad- 
ing, the  external  tendencies  of  science,  dealing  only  with 
crude  matter  and  blind  force  and  ignoring  spiritual  causa- 
tion, are  drifting  your  thought  toward  materialism.  Sup- 
pose modern  spiritualism  to  be  true  ;  its  proven  facts,  evi- 
dences through  the  senses  of  a  great  truth  of  the  soul  ; 
knowledge  added  to  intuitive  faith  ;  blessed  manna  for  the 
heart-hunger  of  the  bereaved.  Would  it  not  meet  your 
great  need }  With  your  intellectual  culture  and  large 
thought  lighted  up  and  made  warm  and  vital  in  this  new 
atmosphere,  would  you  not  gain  a  deep  assurance,  a  con- 
quering and  affirming  power  to  supplant  the  old  theology 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  299 

and  put  something  stronger  and  more  rational  and  uplift- 
ing in  its  place  ? 

After  a  moment's  thought  his  deeply  earnest  answer 
was  :  "We  should  be  able  to  move  the  world  with  a 
mighty  power." 

I  then  said  :  "I  have  no  wish  to  underrate  the  good 
you  have  done.  I  try  to  take  some  part  in  that  good  work 
and  to  be  one  with  you  in  it ;  but  it  is  for  you  to  study 
and  accept  the  higher  aspects  of  spiritualism  and  live,  or 
to  hold  the  great  matter  off  and  die,  bewildered  and  chilled 
by  fatal  doubt. " 

His  answer  was  :  "It  may  be  so.  Surely  it  is  worth 
serious  thought." 

The  facts  of  spirit-presence  have  stirred  the  deeper  life 

of  millions.     The  leaven  has  spread  round  the  world.     A 

strong   and   vitalizing    element   is   helping   to    uplift   the 

religion    of   the  future.      It   modifies    and   lights  up  the 

thought  of  many  to-day  who  are  unconsciously  influenced 

by  it. 

Alfred  R.  Wallace  in  an  article  in  the  North  American 

Review,  said  :  "To  the  teacher  of  religion  it  (spiritualism) 
is  of  vital  importance,  since  it  enables  him  to  meet  the 
sceptic  on  his  own  ground,  to  adduce  facts  and  evidence 
for  the  faith  he  professes,  and  to  avoid  the  attitude  of 
apology  and  doubt  which  renders  him  altogether  helpless 
against  the  vigorous  assaults  of  agnosticism  and  mate- 
rialistic science.  Theology,  when  vivified  and  strength- 
ened by  spiritualism,  may  regain  some  of  the  influence 
and  power  of  its  earlier  years. " 

Liberal  Christianity,  with  no  Bible  or  creed  as  authority, 
and  no  miracles  of  old  supernaturalism,  especially  needs 
to  be  "vivified  and  strengthened,"  that  it  may  escape  the 
chill  of  materialism. 

It  would  be  absurd  to  ignore  the  host  outside  the 
churches,  far  greater  than  that  within,  as  though  they  had 
no  spiritual  life,  no  religious  thought,  or  influence.    Among 


300  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

them  are  many  thoughtful  men  and  women,  non-con- 
formists and  non-church-goers,  but  eminent  in  goodness. 
They  are  truth  seekers,  often  religious  in  a  high  sense,  and 
their  influence  is  great.  The  trend  of  their  thought  is 
away  from  all  binding  and  irrational  dogmas.  They 
sympathize  with  rational  and  enlarging  religious  ideas. 
They  accept  spiritualism,  or  turn  toward  materialism,  or 
stand  and  wait  for  more  light,  living  meanwhile  lives  of 
such  kindness  and  fidelity  as  put  to  shame  pious  hypocrites 
and  canting  pretenders  and  win  the  respect  of  the  good 
and  true  in  the  churches  and  outside. 

These   sympathize   with    the  New    Protestantism,   and 
add  to  its  power. 

TWO  PATHS — THE  COMING  RELIGION. 

The  old  dogmas  and  ecclesiastici^ms  will  not  die  in  a 
day.  The  walls  of  a  great  cathedral  crumble  slowly. 
But  we  are  moving  on,  out  from  the  old  marshlands  and 
leaden  clouds,  and  have  reached  two  diverging  paths,  be- 
tween which  we  are  to  choose,  and  one  or  the  other  of 
which  we  are  to  pursue.  Along  one  path  the  traveller  as- 
cends to  heavenly  highlands,  leaving  his  pilgrim's  burden 
ot  mortal  sin  behind,  if  he  but  look  up  and  move  on,  and 
entering  a  more  real  life  to  learn  more  fully  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  poet's  aspiration — 

"  Nearer,  my  God,  to  thee  !  " 

Entering  the  other  path  the  traveller  goes  down,  soul 
and  body,  "to  the  undistinguished  dust  from  whence  he 
sprang,"  buried  in  the  soulless  clods,  dead  in  the  grasp  of 
relentless  force.  Which  shall  we  take?  The  agnostic 
hesitates  in  enervating  uncertainty,  but  the  march  of  the 
coming  host  carries  him  along.  Lacking  faith  in  the  sky 
he  clings  to  the  clod  which  his  poor  feet  can  feel,  and 
is  swept  into  the  path  which  leads  to  his  grave,  which  he 
follows  with  decent  courage  but  with  no  heavenly  light 
along  the  darkening  way. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  301 

All  progressive  religious  thinkers  may  well  bear  in  mind 
that  they  must  choose  between  these  two  paths.  I'hey 
must  hold  to  the  Supreme  Intelligence  and  the  immortality 
of  man  or  drift  toward  materialism.  The  two  schools  and 
methods  of  thought  are  not  merely  unlike,  they  are  op- 
posite. If  one  is  true  the  other  is  false.  There  need  be 
no  detraction  of  honest  materialists.  All  sincere  opinion 
deserves  respect.  But  how  is  most  light  gained  for  daily 
work  ?  Which  path  is  best  for  daily  life  ?  How  is  religious 
growth  or  inspiration  possible  without  spiritual  ideas  ? 
"  How  can  two  walk  together  unless  they  be  agreed  ? " 

We  can  unite  in  practical  reforms,  but  to  join  in  teach- 
ing Godliness  and  godlessness,  deathlessness  and  death, 
spirit  as  king  and  matter  as  king,  would  be  confusion 
worse  confounded,  ending  in  decay  and  disorganization. 

While  dogmatism  is  smitten  with  sure  decay,  religion 
will  be  put  on  a  basis  deeper  and  more  lasting.  In  the 
soul  of  man,  its  unity  with  the  Infinite  Soul,  and  the  open 
way  for  truth  from  one  to  the  other,  will  be  its  sure  found- 
ations. That  gifted  seer,  Selden  J.  Finney,  said: — ''There 
is  no  other  universal  Bible  hut  the  Creation  and  its  in/or mi?ig 
Spirit.  The  human  spirit  or  reason  is  the  universal  Bible 
rising  into  the  language  of  love,  justice,  science,  and 
philosophy.  There  is  not  a  single  pebble  on  the  sea- 
shore, not  a  rock  on  the  mountain-top,  not  a  world,  nor 
a  fountain  nor  a  flower,  but  invites  us  to  read  a  divine 
revelation.  Is  it  not  universal .?  Is  it  not  universally  acces- 
sible ?  If  you  study  an  ear  of  corn  you  get  swept  into 
the  cycles  of  universal  life.  You  commence  with  that 
silken  tassel,  and  you  study  the  laws  of  vegetative  growth, 
and  before  you  are  aware  of  it  you  are  contemplating  the 
everlasting  genus  of  suns.  Here  is  a  universal  revelation, 
the  only  one  through  which  the  Divine  Intelligence  ad- 
dresses the  senses  and,  through  them,  the  soul. 

"  Religion  is  a  process,  full  of  love  and  wisdom,  full  of 
vital  power  and  beauty.     It  is  not  a  dead  record.     Man 


302  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

most  resembles  the  divine  nature  when  he  copies,  so  to 
speak,  the  divine  proceeding — when  he  so  directs  and 
eliminates  and  harmonizes  his  energies  that  the  powers  of 
the  world  can  make  naught  but  music  through  them. 

"To  read  a  revelation,  you  must  read  it  in  the  light  in 
which  it  was  written,  or  you  never  can  read  it  at  all ;  and  in 
order  io  read  it  in  the  light  in  ivhich  it  was  written,  your  private 
lamp  must  he  kiyidled  at  the  central  sun  of  the  world  which  illu- 
minates that  revelation.  It  is  the  spiritual  eye  that  must  be 
touched  with  the  vital  energies  of  that  everlasting  love. 
We  cannot  read  any  divme  revelation  by  any  other  light, 
by  any  other  power.  This  view  is  very  hopeful — it  makes 
humanity  divine." 

I  seem  to  hear  these  texts  of  the  coming  gospel,  as  I 
heard  them  from  the  eloquent  lips  of  my  ascended  friend. 

The  great  changes  in  religious  and  scientific  thought, 
and  external  conditions,  and  the  marked  progress  of 
noble  reforms  which  I  have  seen  and  felt  for  more  than 
sixty  years  make  us  breathe  a  new  atmosphere,  and  fore- 
tell a  better  future.  Doubts  are  more  frankly  expressed, 
and  thus  a  healthful  sincerity  gains.  Reason  and  con* 
science  and  intuition  have  more  freedom,  the  inner  life 
opens  and  the  soul  asserts  itself.  As  the  great  debate 
goes  on  the  negations  of  materialism,  and  the  halting 
doubts  of  agnosticism  will  not  satisfy  the  deeper  wants 
of  the  spirit ;  the  materialistic  philosophy  will  be  too  shal- 
low and  fragmentary  to  fill  the  wide  range  of  the  enlarg- 
ing mind,  and  the  unfolding  spiritual  nature.  Not  trou- 
bled about  saving  souls  from  future  torment,  the  doing  of 
good  deeds,  and  the  seeking  for  daily  light  along  the  path- 
way of  the  spirit  can  better  fill  our  time.  Thus  we  shall 
realize  the  high  possibilities  of  interior  illumination  and 
normal  spiritual  culture,  lifting  life  to  diviner  levels. 

The  religion  of  the  future  and  a  Spiritual  Philosophy  will 
be  in  unison.  "God  in  all  and  over  all,  and  through  all, 
forever," — an  infinite  Spirit  using  law  as  its  servant  to 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS.  303 

uplift  all  to  higher  uses  and  finer  harmony,  will  be  its 
central  idea.  Our  sense  of  duty  and  fraternity  must  gain 
in  depth  and  tenderness.  With  the  assurance  of  an  im- 
mortal life,  near  and  natural,  blending  with  our  existence 
here  and  reaching  to  heights  we  know  not  of,  must  come 
a  larger  hope,  a  deeper  faith  verified  by  positive  knowl- 
edge. 

The  church  of  the  future  may  have  one  name — The 
Church  of  the  Spirit,  as  has  been  well  suggested, — or  its 
divisions  may  vary  in  name  and  in  shades  of  thought,  but 
it  will  be  the  free  assemblage  of  men  and  women  seeking 
to  he  more  and  to  do  more.  Standing  on  firm  ground  and 
in  heavenly  light  it  must  help  to  power  and  harmony  of 
character,  to  practical  righteousness,  and  world-wide 
charity. 

In  place  of  the  jangle  of  conflicting  dogmas,  will  come 
the  search  for  truth,  the  thinking  wisely  along  spiritual 
lines,  the  doing  of  daily  duty,  the  helping  of  all  needed 
reforms,  the  deeper  feeling  that  "  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of 
the  Law,"  the  Christ-like  spirit  of  human  brotherhood. 

COMING  REFORMS. 

"  New  occasions  teach  new  duties 

Time  makes  ancient  good  uncouth  ; 

They  must  upward  still  and  onward, 
Who  would  keep  abreast  of  Truth . 

John  Milton  wrote  of  days  :  "  When  God  shakes  a 
kingdom  with  strong  and  healthful  commotion  to  a  general 
reforming,"  and  of  men  rising  up  "to  gain  farther,  and 
go  on  some  new  enlightened  steps  for  the  discovery  of 
truth."  Such  enlightened  steps  are  always  needed.  To 
sit  idly  and  read  "  the  legendary  virtues  carved  upon  our 
father's  graves,"  is  to  make  poor  use  of  their  example. 
They  did  the  duty  of  their  day,  we  should  do  the  duty  of 
ours  still  better,  A  few  great  upward  steps  are  before  us 
in  the  near  future.     The   "  healthful  commotion  "  of  the 


304  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

discussion  of  these  matters  of  vital  moment  stirs  the  air. 

PEACE  MUST  COME, 

instead  of  that  "great  duel  of  nations  "  which  we  call 
war.  National  arbitration  must  end  the  awful  waste  of 
human  life,  the  bloody  barbarism  and  fearful  cost  of  that 
duel.  A  gleam  of  golden  light,  glorifying  the  closing 
years  of  the  century,  and  shining  far  into  the  future,  is  the 
arbitration  pledge  of  the  Pan-American  Congress  just  made 
at  Washington — a  pledge  of  peace  between  the  republics 
of  this  western  world.     Let  us  hope  it  may  be  kept. 

THE  SALOON    MUST  BE  BANISHED. 

That  curse  and  peril  of  our  land  must  be  blotted  out. 
Self-conquest,  self-knowledge  and  culture  must  lift  us 
above  the  folly  and  degradation  of  using  intoxicating 
liquors,  and  above  the  sway  of  perverted  appetite  and 
passion. 

CAPITAL   AND    LABOR 

must  be  allies  and  never  enemies.  Within  the  past  forty 
years  inventive  genius  has  filled  the  world  with  splendid 
mechanism,  the  use  of  which  greatly  increases  our  pro- 
ductive power,  and  calls  for  capital  in  large  masses  and 
labor  in  great  armies.  We  are  dazed  by  this  sudden 
change,  and  the  cry  is  raised  that  "  The  rich  are  growing 
richer  and  the  poor  poorer,"  but  we  begin  to  see  that  the 
tendency  and  result  of  the  new  mechanisms  and  methods 
is  better  pay  and  shorter  hours  for  labor.  This  is  hope- 
ful, but  the  cruel  greed  of  gain,  the  eager  rush  for  great 
wealth,  the  selfish  luxury  and  pride  of  power,  and  all 
blind  hate  and  fear  must  give  way  to  a  spirit  of  fraternity. 
With  that  spirit  ruling  these  new  conditions  can  be  so 
adjusted  that  the  people's  step  shall  be  upward,  and  we 
can  all  prosper  together. 

A  brave  and  needed  word  was   that  of  Andrew  Car- 


UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEAKS.  305 

negie  :    "  He  who  dies  rich,  and  having  done  nothing  for 
the  good  of  the  people,  dies  disgraced." 


WOMAN-SUFFRAGE 


must  come,  not  last  but  first,  if  possible,  to  give  needed 
help  to  the  other  great  steps.  With  these  steps  taken, 
ways  will  open  better  for  the  righting  of  lesser  wrongs. 

In  1859-60  a  strong  effort  by  a  goodly  company  in  Ann 
Arbor  and  elsewhere,  in  which  it  was  my  privilege  to  take 
part,  opened  our  Michigan  State  University  to  woman 
in  1869.  The  prophecies  of  ill  were  doleful  and  direful, 
but  the  mistaken  prophets  now  rejoice  in  the  good  results. 
While  this  discussion  was  going  on.  Professor  Frieze  of 
the  University  was,  with  the  President  and  others,  opposed 
to  co-education.  He  was  greatly  respected  and  be- 
loved for  his  ripe  scholarship,  and  for  his  kindness  and 
sincerity.  Some  years  after  I  met  him  on  a  street  car 
in  Detroit,  and  he  said  :  "You  remember  I  was  opposed 
to  women  being  admitted  as  students  :  I  was  honest  m  my 
fears  and  doubts."  At  once  I  replied  :  "I  never  doubted 
your  sincerity  or  good  intent,"  and  he  added  :  "  Now  I 
am  glad  to  say  that  I  was  mistaken.  In  scholarship  and 
conduct  and  character  the  admission  of  women  has  brought 
help  and  good."  We  shook  hands  cordially  at  parting, 
and  my  high  regard  for  him  was  increased  by  the  true  man- 
liness of  this  admission  of  his  mistake. 

In  1874  the  question  of  woman  suffrage  was  submitted 
to  the  people  of  Michigan,  and  we  had  40,000  votes  in  its 
favor,  after  a  short  but  excellent  campaign.  The  liquor 
interest  arrayed  itself  against  us.  "  Instinct  is  a  great 
matter,"  and  it  leads  the  liquor  sellers  to  see  the  hand- 
writing of  doom  on  their  walls  in  this  larger  use  of  the 
moral  power  of  woman. 

Prejudiced  men  and  women,  often  not  gifted  with  strong 
minds,  conjure  up  strange  fancies  of  shabby  housekeeping 


20 


3o6  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

and  family  trouble  in  the  homes  of  "  strong  minded 
women."  I  have  broken  bread  at  the  tables  of  Lucretia 
JMott  and  Lucy  Stone,  and  Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton,  and 
can  testify  to  the  important  fact  that  it  was  excellent  bread  ! 

Their  families  seemed  contented  and  happy,  and  their 
homes  beautifully  ordered!  Mrs.  Livermore  and  Lucy 
Stone  are  on  the  best  terms  with  their  husbands  !  Susan 
B.  Anthony  is  an  excellent  cook,  and  likes  it,  too.  She  is  a 
skilled  and  faithful  nurse,  and  tenderly  cared  for  her  aged 
parents  in  their  last  years,  yet  she  is  suspected  of  having 
a  strong  mind  !  These  cheering  facts  are  given  to  en- 
courage the  poor  in  spirit.  Surely  we  ought  always  to 
help  the  weak.  This  is  a  poor,  foolish  world,  if  we  only 
look  on  its  weak  side,  but  its  stronger  and  braver  side 
wins  at  last — the  true  "survival  of  the  fittest."  A  load 
of  cruelty  and  contempt  is  being  lifted  from  womanhood. 
A  higher  sense  of  the  sanctity  of  maternity,  higher 
thoughts  of  marriage  and  heredity  are  coming  to  us. 
Woman  finds  more  varied  employ  and  a  slowly  rising 
scale  of  compensation.  The  light  of  dawn  is  visible. 
There  can  be  no  true  civilization,  or  unity  in  the  highest 
sense,  without  equality  of  rights.  This  great  reform  will 
go  on,  and  will  succeed.  Womanhood  and  manhood, 
home  life  and  public  affairs,  will  be  the  better  for  it,  and 
the  change  will  come  so  quietly  that  the  timid  will  look 
back  and  wonder  at  their  fears.  Subtle  and  indefinable  is 
the  difference,  in  mind  and  soul,  between  womanhood 
and  manhood.  The  intuition  of  woman  sees  in  advance, 
and  illuminates  paths  which  man  pursues  and  works  out. 
We  need  both  in  all  life's  duties,  that  the  perfect  whole 
may  be  rounded  out  in  full  harmony. 

Pride  and  prejudice,  false  conservatism,  blind  selfish- 
ness, sectarian  bigotry,  vested  interest  and  the  cruel  greed  of 
gain,  stand  against  these  great  coming  reforms.  A  grow- 
ing fairness  and  largeness  of  discussion,  a  setting  of 
the    tides   of   religious    thought    toward    duty    to    man. 


UPWARD  STEPS  OP  SEVENTY  YEARS.  307 

firm  adherence  to  right  and  sacred  devotion  to  its  ser- 
vice, moral  heroism,  spiritual  culture  and  illumination,  the 
rising  influence  of  woman,  and  far-seeing  wisdom  stand 
for  them,  and  will  wm  them  all.  On  the  side  of  right  too 
is  a  mighty  force,  underlying  and  helping  all  human 
efforts.  In  scientific  language  we  may  call  that  force 
"  The  upward  tendency  which  streams  irresistibly  through 
all  things  ; "  in  religious  phrase  it  is  the  will  of  God  that 
the  right  shall  supplant  the  wrong — a  purpose  that  knows 
no  failure. 

The  man  on  his  farm  or  in  his  shop,  the  woman  in  her 
kitchen  or  parlor,  feels  the  thrill  of  a  large  and  noble  life 
the  sense  of  a  divine  consecration,  if  enlisted  in  the 
service  of  a  great  reform.  To  live  in  that  atmosphere  is 
like  breathing  pure  air  from  the  mountains.  Lucretia 
Mott,  Isaac  T.  Hopper,  Garrison,  Oliver  Johnson,  James 
G.  Birney,  Benjamin  Fish,  Gerritt  Smith,  and  other  anti- 
slavery  pioneers  whom  I  knew,  kept  up  their  active  work 
beyond  the  allotted  three-score  and  ten  years,  and  then 
graduated  to  the  higher  life  to  take  up  some  fit  task  with 
larger  powers. 

Heroism  is  health.  The  sane  soul  is  hopeful  and 
strong  and  persistent.  It  vitalizes  the  body,  while  the  puri- 
fying power  of  a  high  purpose  checks  excess  of  appetite 
and  passion  and  prolongs  life  on  earth.  "Hitch  your 
wagon  to  a  star"  is  a  good  medical  prescription  as  well 
as  a  quaint  and  wise  ideal  suggestion. 

A  pessimist  can  never  be  a  wise  reformer.  His  creed 
of  despair  is  a  blind  blunder,  filling  men  with  hate  or 
gloom.  The  upward  steps,  not  only  of  the  last  seventy 
years,  but  of  all  the  centuries,  have  been  led  by  brave  and 
hopeful  men  and  women,  not  by  pessimists.  The  struggle 
may  be  severe  but  a  great  beneficence  wins,  a  wise  op- 
timism gives  the  inspiring  word  : 

"Ever  the  right  comes  uppermost, 
And  ever  is  justice  done." 


,o8  UPWARD  STEPS  OF  SEVENTY  YEARS. 

CONCLUSION. 

My  pleasant  task  draws  to  its  close.  It  has  filled  many 
cheerful  hours  at  home,  and  these  closing  words  are 
written  in  the  rooms  of  a  beloved  friend  and  kinsman  in 
south-western  New  York.  Looking  out,  the  fields,  clad  in 
the  fresh  verdure  of  spring,  the  pleasant  homes  along  the 
village  street,  the  railroad  track  and  the  grand  hills  beyond 
are  before  me.  Miles  of  landscape  pictured  on  a  tiny 
space  in  the  retina  of  the  eye,  tint  and  shade  of  earth  and 
sky  and  cloud  reproduced  beyond  the  poor  skill  of  any 
human  artist,  and  the  whole  made  real  to  mind  and  soul 
in  some  way  too  subtle  for  us  to  grasp  !  It  is  indeed 
wonderful,  but  in  "  thought's  interior  sphere"  are  greater 
wonders. 

Memory  unrolls  a  panorama  before  my  mind's  eye, 
reaching  from  the  rocky  hills  and  lovely  valleys  of  my  na- 
tive Massachusetts  to  Nebraska  and  Alabama,  and  giving 
views  of  wide  spaces  between.  It  opens,  as  my  thought 
brings  it  out,  to  show  the  scenes  of  seventy-three  years, 
all  fresh  as  if  painted  yesterday.  Its  scenes  are  not  in- 
animate. The  dear  parents  and  sister  are  in  the  old 
home,  living  and  moving.  Towns  and  cities  on  this 
magic  picture  are  peopled.  In  pleasant  homes,  in  halls 
and  churches,  I  see  the  friends  of  other  days.  They  are 
not  silent.  The  voices  of  the  beloved  and  true-hearted 
sound  across  the  years.  I  hear  the  very  words  they 
spoke.  I  feel  their  sympathy,  and  thrill  under  the  sway 
of  their  eloquence,  as  in  times  long  past. 

The  Past  reappears,  prophetic  of  a  higher  Future.  It  is 
hoped  that  this  record  of  upward  steps,  and  of  the  useful 
lives  of  some  of  the  world's  light-bringers,  may  help  and 
interest  those  who  read  it.  If  the  enjoyment  of  the  read- 
ing equals  that  of  the  writing  it  will  be  fortunate  for  us  all 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


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